The Legend of Spyro Eternal Love
by Draco Arc Nova
Summary: Malefor has been defeated, but his creator is coming for the Realms. Can Spyro keep his mind despite the evil's grip on it. SpyroXCynder.
1. Chapter 1: New Threats

Chapter 1: New Threats

Spyro and Cynder were sitting on the balcony of the dragon temple looking at the stars. They were both twelve years old and had just defeated the Dark Master. But their victory did not come with out a price. Spyro nearly died in the last moments of battle and was very lucky. The Dark Master toyed with Spyro and gave him a large slash make that ran down the left side of his face. It started right above his left eye and stopped at his jaw. He had collected many other scars from his battle with the Dark Master, like the scar that ran along his right front leg. The line of light purple started at his shoulder and went down to the topside of his wrist. The scar stood out from the darker purple scales around the line. His left side had a large slash mark and his lower right back. His upper left chest scale had been dented and disformed from the Dark Master's powerful Convexity attack.

Cynder was next to Spyro with her head resting on his shoulder. She sighed and asked, "Is it not beautiful?"

Spyro smiled and said, "No."

Cynder looked at him questioningly and asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Because I have something more beautiful and she is sitting right next to me," Spyro replied.

Cynder blushed and looked down. Spyro licked her cheek and Cynder giggled looking into Spyro's eyes.

"We have been going out for four years and that is the best you got?" Cynder asked.

"I just didn't want to take it too fast for tonight," Spyro countered.

"Too fast?" Cynder questioned.

She threw herself onto Spyro and locked lips with him. They broke and Cynder and Spyro smiled at each other. Spyro looked into her beautiful green eyes and lock lips with her.

"Thank you Spyro," she said when they broke.

"You're welcome," Spyro replied.

They both moved to the side of the balcony and lay against. Spyro wrapped his tail around Cynder's and she rested her head on his shoulder again. She closed her eyes and Spyro warmed his wings around her. Spyro tickled her side and Cynder moved a little bit towards him and away from his hand. He tickled her side again and she moved closer. He used both hands getting both her sides.

She laughed a bit and said, "Stop it Spyro." He didn't stop and she opened her eyes and looked at him and said, "I mean it." He still didn't stop and she began to lose control of her voice and started to laugh loudly, "Please Spyro stop it!"

He stopped after a couple seconds and Cynder tickled his side. She started where his scar was, but Spyro didn't respond to it. She was puzzled and continued to tickle the same spot, but Spyro was just looking at her trying to figure out what she was doing.

"Your not ticklish on your side?" Cynder asked.

"What?" Spyro asked.

"Your side," Cynder replied, "I was tickling it. Didn't you feel it?"

"No," Spyro said, "Where were you tickling me again?"

"Here," Cynder said as she tickled the same spot. Spyro looked down and saw that she was tickling the scar on his left side.

"Cynder may be that's because you're tickling dead scales," Spyro suggested.

"What," Cynder asked confused at what he just said.

"You were tickling my scar. It's all dead scales I don't feel anything there along with my other scars," Spyro said.

Cynder looked down and saw that she was tickling his scar. She placed her hand on it and looked at him. He shook his head tell her that he couldn't feel it. She moved her hand along the scar and he shook his head again. She poked it, but Spyro still shook his head. She raised her hand to the scar on his face and ran her finger along it. She hoped that he would nod, but he didn't.

"Spyro, why didn't you tell me?" Cynder asked.

"Because it wasn't important," he replied, "The dead scales are numb."

He pressed his claw into one of his scarred scales until he began to bleed a little. He didn't wince or do anything except watch.

Cynder pulled his hand way from the small injury and said, "Stop, don't do that. I'm sorry that has happened to you."

"It's ok," he said as he held her in his arms, "I fact it's better. I have less of a chance of getting hurt now."

Cynder laughed at the comment and said, "Oh Spyro, you always are funny. That's what I love about you."

"That's one of the many things I love about you," Spyro said.

"What?" asked Cynder.

"That you love me. That's one of the things I love about you," Spyro answered, "Besides the fact that you are beautiful, smart, loving, and amazing."

"Aw, you're sweet," Cynder said as she leaned in and gave him a kiss.

They watched the night sky for the rest of the night with each other. They fell asleep next to each other dreaming of each other.

Morning came quickly and the sun brought warmth and life to the land. Chromius, a dragon that was a deep silver color was wandering the temple. He arrived a year ago with two other dragons that were found along the far borders of this realm. Those other two left to find more of their kin and bring them back. He went out onto the balcony and saw Spyro and Cynder together, asleep. The silver dragon turned back towards the temple and went inside. He made his way to the main gate. He exited the temple and enjoyed the sunlight that was falling on him, warming his silver scales and his light blue under scales. He went down to a pond and washed himself and got a drink. Chromius heard something not too far from the pond and dove into the water. He moved to where a small waterfall feed the pond with water. He blended in with the white water and mist.

"Dragon land near here," said a large black demon like creature. It was followed by thirty more of these creatures. Luckily the creatures continued without stopping. Chromius burst out of the waterfall and flew as fast as he could towards the Dragon Temple.

Spyro woke up with Cynder still in his arms. He smiled as he looked at her. Her forehead crest shined beautifully in the sunlight.

He rubbed her shoulder and said, "Cynder, wake up."

She moaned and moved closer to Spyro but wasn't fully awake. He repeated himself and she still didn't wake up. He tickled her sides and she snapped awake with a yelp. Spyro laughed and Cynder gave him and serious look. Spyro looked at her like it wasn't his fault. She jumped onto him and gave him and locked lips with him.

They broke and Cynder said, "If you do that again I won't sleep with you again."

"Ah, come on Cynder it was only a little fun," Spyro replied.

"Fun for you may be," Cynder answered.

"Oh come on you know you like when I tickle you," Spyro said as he tickled her side.

She moved away from the hand and laughed, "Oh what I'm going to do with you?"

"Love me," Spyro suggested.

"I think I can do that," Cynder replied.

"Good," Spyro said as he licks her cheek.

Cynder giggled as she laid her head down against his head and whispered, "I love you Spyro."

"I love you too Cynder," Spyro whispered back.

Chromius dove onto the balcony and was panting. Spyro looked at the silver dragon and asked, "What did you do now Chromius?"

"I found some evil creatures that are making their way here," Chromius answered, "I overheard them as they passed by the waterfall."

"We don't have much time then," Cynder said getting up, "We have to tell the Guardians."

They agreed and ran inside and gathered the Guardians.

"Can you describe these creatures Chromius?" asked Ignitus.

"They were fairly large and covered with shadows. They all were evil looking. They were like demons. Their eyes looked like flames and they had large horns growing from random parts of the body."

"Shadow spawn," Terrador spat, "This is truly a bad omen."

"Agreed," Volteer said, "It is the sign of his return."

"But how could that bloody monster have escaped the Desolation Realm?" asked Cyril.

"I don't know," Ignitus replied, "But what I do know is that we must get rid of the Shadow spawn before we proceed."

"Who is this monster?" asked Spyro.

"An incarnation of evil," Ignitus answered, "His name is Marthaeter. He is the one who created the Dark Master. He hoped that the Dark Master would be able to weaken us and make it easier to defeat us, which nearly happened, but thanks to you we are all alive."

"The worst thing about this is that Marthaeter knows that there is someone strong enough to defeat his greatest servant and will create new creations to deal with Spyro," Terrador said.

"Oh great," Spyro replied, "I do what I'm suppose to do and now I'm going to be attacked for that."

"Yes that's true Spyro, but we have help from some old friends who will be assisting us in this new war," Ignitus said as a human in a black robes entered.

The man bowed to the Guardians and turned to the three young dragons, bowing to them saying, "Hello young dragons, it's an honor to meet you."

"This is Spyro, Cynder, and Chromius," Ignitus said.

"I have been looking forward to meeting you all," the man said as he drew his sword. It was large katana, four feet in length and the blade was a dark metal color. Its handle was black and had dark grey colored details. The pummel was a dragon's head and was the same color as the blade.

The three dragons were ready to fight as the man drew his blade. Spyro moved in front of Cynder and was ready to unleash everything he had on the person. The human did something they didn't expect then, he stabbed the blade into the ground and knelt.

He bowed his head and said, "I had no name when I was younger so I was given the name Shadedulath. You may call me Shade for short."

Spyro looked at Ignitus confusingly.

Ignitus spoke up and said, "Shadedulath found us long ago before the Dark Master attacked the temple. He had to leave the area since he was called away for a mission by his own group when the raid on the temple happened."

"What group do you belong to?" Cynder asked.

"The Shadows of Katsumoto is the organizations name," Shadedulath answered, "Katsumoto formed this group as a way to protect our new home and the other inhabitants from harm."

"How is Katsumoto?" Ignitus asked, "I haven't seen him in many years."

"Nor will you," Shadedulath answered, "He died a year ago."

"What?" asked Cyril.

"He died in battle against Marthaeter in the Shadow Vale," Shadedulath answered, "I was given his position and I retreated with the rest of our forces."

"What were you doing there?" Volteer shouted, "An attack on Marthaeter's realm is suicidal."

"We were given false information about a secret passage that would lead into Marthaeter's fortress, but it was a trap," Shadedulath said, "He died a noble death."

"Yes you humans are talented warriors and fight to the death," Terrador replied, "I admire your kin and pity them at the same time."

"Why fight to the death?" Spyro asked, "What point is there in dying in combat when you can retreat and fight another day?"

"Honor," Shadedulath answered quickly, "If we are defeated we have no chance of planning an escape when capture we kill ourselves so our enemy won't have the pleasure of doing it themselves."

"Enough of this bad conversation," Ignitus said, "Shade where are your men?"

"They have secured the temple and are watching for enemies since there is a group of Shadow spawn are heading this way," Shadedulath replied.

"Yes and it is good that you are here to help us," Cyril commented.

"We come to honor our allegiance from long ago," said Shadedulath, "We are honored to fight along side dragons again and my men will help you in this war as long as we breathe."


	2. Chapter 2: Battles of Old and Battles of

**Here's the second chapter. This is a long one and a good battle I feel. Enjoy and please R&R.**

Chapter 2: Battles of Old and Battles of New

Spyro and Cynder were inside to the temple due to the possible danger of an attack. They were in the grotto, next to the pool of visions. They were both looking into the pool since they had the ability to see the visions in the water. They concentrated on the near future and a vision appeared. It showed the temple siege by a great host of creatures attacked it. It showed both of them fighting on the balcony against countless foes that continued to climb over the balcony railings. The vision skipped to several humans dressed in black robes and had the same katana swords as Shadedulath, fighting valiantly against these demons. Then it showed Shadedulath fighting alone. He swung his blades around cutting down enemies left and right. The vision went to the Guardians who weren't holding up very well even though they were fighting fewer creatures. The last part of the vision showed Chromius being captured and taken away as the creatures retreated. The pool was still and Spyro and Cynder were sitting there shocked at what would come.

"Chromius," Spyro said softly, "We should warn him."

"Spyro," Cynder said quietly, "May be it's best not to tell him. It might lead to worst problems. If he does get captured we could always go find him."

"Are you going off the point of what I did?" asked Spyro. Cynder nodded and frowned a little. "Cynder I had to know if you were in danger. I love you too much to let that just slip by unnoticed. I didn't care what the Chronicler or anyone else said, I just wanted to have back with me."

"Thanks," Cynder said with a smile. She pulled Spyro towards her and locked lips with him. "Spyro?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Do you ever get nervous before fights like this?" Cynder asked.

"Not as much as I use to," he replied, "When I first fought you I was scared out of my mind. When I fought Gaul I wasn't nervous about fighting him, I was nervous about letting the Dark Master escape. I felt nothing but hate and anger towards that overgrown ape for what he did to you. When the Dark Master tainted me I just let my wanting for vengeance out. I killed him out of pure rage. I felt the same thing when I fought the Dark Master. I focused all my hate, anger, and rage onto him. I lost all control…" Spyro stopped remembering that day three months ago.

Flashback…

Spyro landed in the Dark Master's new fortress. The sky and ground was dark. No plant or animal life could be found. He approached the fortress when two large apes, fully armored came out of the gates. One had a bow and the other carried a large mace and a shield.

He charged at them and fired a stream of fire at the one with the bow. The ape caught on fire and rushed to put out the flames. Spyro dove at the other one. He tackled the large creature to the ground knocking the shield away from him. Spyro dug his claws into the ape's hide and the ape howled in pain. The ape elbowed Spyro in the face knocking him off. The ape stood up and swung its mace at Spyro who was standing back up. The mace hit his side and sent him flying into the wall of the fortress. Spyro slid to the ground and slowly looked up. The ape walked over and shook his head as he raised the mace for the deathblow. The first thing that went through his mind was that he failed Cynder. He saw her face and he shed a tear knowing that he had failed her and left her a situation were it would be better to be dead. In the back of his mind something clicked and he felt strength. He couldn't let Cynder down. She needed him and he needed her. His eyes started to glow purple and the ape took a step back before he swung the mace. Spyro's mouth opened and a blast of Convexity rocketed out and incinerated the mace head. The beam continued as Spyro directed towards the ape. The beam ripped right through its body and the corpse fell over. An arrow sank into Spyro's right shoulder. He turned and saw the other ape drawing the bow back ready to fire. He released an arrow the same time Spyro fired another beam of Convexity, which destroyed the arrow and the ape's head.

Spyro continued his way deeper into the Dark Master's fortress. He came to the throne room doors where five black dragons were keeping guard. One he could make out as the leader of the guards. He fired a ball of Convexity at the leader. The ball ripped through his skull and exited the other side hitting the wall behind him. The four guards looked at Spyro and growled. Spyro charged at them unleashing a savage roar that sounded years old then he was. His horns, claws, and tail glowed with the same energy and he attacked the guards. The first guard was stabbed through the chest by Spyro's tail. He fired a beam of Convexity at the second guard. The other two backed off. One of them fired a jet of fire. Spyro fired a blast of purple flames that quickly overpowered the dark dragon's flames and killed him. The last guard dove at Spyro. Spyro ducked out of the way and knocked the dragon to the ground. He sunk his teeth into the dragon's neck and ripped the flesh away. He spat out the flesh and took another chunk. He found the windpipe and crushed with his claws. The dragon stopped struggling and went limp.

Spyro threw the body aside and blast open the doors with his Convexity beam. The room was poorly lit. The only light was from a beam of Convexity like the one from the Well of Souls that was in the back of the chamber. Spyro's glowing eyes gave him some light to see. He walked down the massive room quietly and warily.

He was about a hundred feet from the beam of purple energy when the Dark Master's voice boomed through the room, "I see you have come to meet your destiny, Spyro."

"Yes I have come to fulfill my destiny, destroying you," Spyro said, his voice distorted by the power of Convexity flowing through him, "Where is Cynder?"

"She is here," the Dark Master replied. He looked towards the beam and there was Cynder in chains. "I was going to turn her back to her old self, but I would rather have her watch her love be defeated and die so miserably."

Spyro looked at Cynder. She struggled to get free, but got nowhere with it. She looked at Spyro and yelled, "Spyro, I'm sorry for this."

"Don't be Cynder," Spyro replied his tone still distorted, "I got you into this I'm going to get you out of this, even if it costs my death. I love you Cynder."

"I love you too Spyro," she responded, "Spyro look out!"

The Dark Master swung his tail at Spyro knocking him into the wall fifty feet away. Spyro got up and fired a beam of Convexity at the Dark Master. The Dark Master fired his own beam of Convexity. The beam was more powerful than Spyro's. The beam pushed back towards Spyro and finally hit him, throwing him into the wall behind him. A loud roar of pain could be heard from the massive amounts of dust and other debris knocked up by the attack. The dust cleared and Spyro slowly got up. Spyro's eyes glowed brighter and he charged forwards at the Dark Master. He slashed at his chest cutting open the black-scaled chest. The Dark Master roared and knocked Spyro aside. Spyro quickly recovered and fired a Convexity Earth Shot. The purple blast hit the Dark Master in the chest and broke several rips. The Dark Master swung his long tail at Spyro. Spyro tried to dodge the lethal tail weapon, but was hit. The sharp weapon cut into his lower right back. Spyro howled and bit the Dark Master's tail. He bit down hard and crushed the bones in his tail. He charged a powerful blast of Convexity energy and unleashed it when he was lined up with the Dark Master. The burst of purple energy separated the tail from the rest of the body. The tail flailed around on the ground until Spyro stepped on it digging his claws into it. The Dark Master gave Spyro a glare and attacked Spyro. He slashed out at Spyro's right leg making only contact with one claw as it cut through the purple scales from Spyro's shoulder to his wrist. Spyro staggered backwards and waited for the Dark Master's next move. The Dark Master stepped forward and Spyro fired a current of purple lightning at him. The Dark Master didn't have time to react as the purple bolts struck him paralyzing his muscles. He fell to his knees, but was able to recover from the attack. The Dark Master pounced at Spyro and grabbed him by the throat. He raised one claw and swiped at the left side of the face. The claw cut from the top of the eye to the jawbone. Spyro's temper flared and his eyes glowed more intensely. He fired a blast of Convexity at the Dark Master catching the side of his face. The beam blasted through the right cheek, exposing the inside of his mouth. The Dark Master roared louder than before as blood splattered over Spyro and the area around him.

As the Dark Master howled in rage and pain Spyro looked over to Cynder and said, "Cynder I'm sorry if I die, I love you, more than anything else."

Cynder started to cry and answered, "I love you too Spyro, you are everything to me."

Spyro nodded as a single tear ran down his face. He turned towards the Dark Master and gathered all his strength and focused on his inner being the raging dragon inside that was more powerful than anything this world has ever seen since the beginning of time. His body began to glow purple as purple fire gathered around him along with purple bolts of lightning. Bits of the earth below him were ripped from the floor and hovered around him as purple ice crystals formed around him also. The Dark Master recovered and noticed Spyro; his eyes went wide with horror as Spyro unleashed the attack. Purple fire rushed out first burning the Dark Master, followed by purple bolts of electricity that sent his muscles into spasms. The crystals and bits of earth hit him with tremendous strength. Last was a shockwave of Convexitial energy with seven purple energy dragons raced out of Spyro. The shockwave knocked the Dark Master into the air and the dragons intercepted him punched through his dark and evil body, ripping large holes in him. The dragons faded and Spyro fell to his knees next to Cynder. Cynder lay down next to him so he could see her face.

She gave him a kiss and said, "Thank you Spyro."

Spyro smiled and said, "Your welcome."

"Spyro your shoulder," Cynder said with concern.

"Oh yeah," Spyro replied, "I got hit."

Cynder had enough slack on the chains to pull the arrow out. She placed it next to him.

The Dark Master laughed and said, "You real thought that would kill me?" Spyro and Cynder looked in horror to see the Dark Master. He was badly injured and covered in blood. "Now that you have pist me off I'm going to kill your love." The Dark Master fired a beam of Convexity at Cynder.

"NO!" Spyro shouted as he used his Dragon Time power. He stood up and moved so that he was in front of Cynder. He released time and the beam hit him on the left side of his chest throwing him against the wall with tremendous strength.

"SPYRO!" Cynder screamed. Spyro's form made little movement. Cynder wept uncontrollably knowing that her love Spyro was dead, but she stopped as she noticed him slowly getting up.

The Dark Master laughed and walked over to him, "You are one tough little bastard I'll tell you that. Now I'll give you a quick death." The Dark Master reached down towards Spyro's neck when Spyro threw something at the Dark Master. It buried itself deep within the skull and entered the brain, killing the Dark Master. Cynder looked over at the arrow and saw that the arrowhead was broken off. The Dark Master's body fell on top of Spyro. Spyro blasted the Dark Master's body apart with his Convexity blasts. The body disappeared into ashes and Spyro slowly stood up groaning as he did so.

Spyro limped over to her and broke the locks on the chains. Cynder didn't even wait to get the chains off and leapt onto Spyro, locking lips with him. Her momentum made them roll for a second until they stopped. Cynder broke and laid her head on Spyro's chest. She felt something a little out of place on Spyro's chest. The scale was disformed and dented in.

"Spyro your chest is…" Cynder tried to think of a word that would describe it but nothing came into mind.

"Damaged," Spyro simple said as his voice started to return to normal. Cynder nodded and Spyro continued saying, "Yes, it will be like that for the rest of my life. A reminder of the Dark Master's cowardliness."

"Oh my god your eye," Cynder said.

"I know, it's just a scratch though," Spyro replied.

"No it's turning black," Cynder pointed out, "It's infected by something."

"What?" Spyro asked. He looked at Cynder who was talking, but he couldn't hear her. His vision started to black out and he fell unconscious.

The Dark Master's voice filled his head and said, "I will never die as long as you live. I will torture you night and day for the rest of your pitiful life."

He remembered waking up after that and seeing Cynder crying hysterically. He reached up with his left arm and stroked the back of her head and asked, "What is wrong Cynder?"

She immediately looked at him and stopped crying not believing that he was alive. "Spyro?" she asked.

"Yes?" Spyro answered, "I'm here."

She touched his face to make sure he was really there. "Oh Spyro, don't you ever do that again."

"What? Not black out again?" Spyro asked.

"Yes," Cynder responded, "You nearly scared me half to death."

"I'm sorry that I can't control things that just happen," Spyro said jokingly.

"Well you better learn to or something might happen," Cynder said slyly as she locked lips with him. They broke and they both smiled at each other. "Well now that you're awake, why don't we get going?"

"I can't because I'm still so tired," Spyro said adding in a fake yawn, "And your chains are under my back and I have no energy to do anything."

Cynder smiled and said, "So I guess you don't have energy to give me a kiss then?"

Spyro shook his and replied, "I would love to, but I can't."

"Why not?" Cynder asked, "Can the savior of the realm that just defeated the Dark Master not even reach up and give his love a kiss?"

Spyro sighed and tried as hard as he could to lift his head up. His neck strained, but he was able to get his head high enough. Right when he was going to kiss Cynder, she raised her head higher. She smiled and Spyro's head fell back down and he groaned, "Thanks a lot."

"Your welcome, now come on, I'm waiting for you," Cynder said mockingly. Spyro forced himself high and he quickly locked lips with her before she could move her head any higher. They broke and Cynder giggled.

"What?" Spyro asked.

Cynder smiled and showed him the chains that he was laying on. "So now we can leave," Cynder commented.

Spyro rolled over and trapped Cynder under him and laughed, "I guess I get the last laugh."

"You said you had no energy a few seconds ago," Cynder said, "I guess you have recovered your strength."

"Nope," Spyro replied, "I just used it all up."

She smiled and said, "If it wasn't for that last comment, I would have asked you to get up again, but I don't mind this at all, especially since it's you who is on top of me," Cynder said almost as if she was inferring something.

"Really?" Spyro asked in a fake surprise.

"Oh yes," Cynder replied in a seducing voice, putting her arms around his neck, "I fact you are the only one I want to have on top of me." She ran a claw along the back of his neck and Spyro shivered.

"I love you," Spyro said.

"I love you too," Cynder replied.

End of Flashback…

"Spyro?" Cynder asked.

Spyro snapped back to the present and looked at Cynder, "Yeah?"

"Are you ok?" asked Cynder.

Spyro nodded and said, "Yeah, I just remembered back to that day. I never really thought about that day until now and I remembered when I blacked out I heard the Dark Master's voice telling me 'I will never die as long as you live. I will torture you night and day for the rest of your pitiful life.' Cynder if you don't want to be with me because of this I'll understand."

Cynder gave him an appalled look. "Spyro don't you ever say something like that again," Cynder said harshly, "I love you no matter what happens to you. I will never leave you because you are the dragon of my dreams. I would never be able to find someone to replace you. You are unique to me and I will always be there with you."

"Well I'm unique to everyone you know," Spyro argued jokingly, "I'm the only purple dragon alive."

"That's not what I meant," Cynder sighed.

"I know Cynder," Spyro said, "I'm just messing with you."

He licked her cheek and she giggled.

Ignitus barged in and said, "They are here."

Cynder said, "Ok we will be there in a second."

Ignitus left and Spyro sighed, "Great."

Cynder locked lips with him and said, "We'll have to continue this later."

The grotto was filled with warriors. There were at least fifty humans all dressed in the same clothing that Shadedulath wore and carried the same weapons. They all had either long hair or had their heads shaved. The Guardians were already armored when Spyro and Cynder came in.

Ignitus walked over towards them and told them, "Follow me, I'll help armor you up."

The entered a room that Spyro and Cynder had never been in before. Shadedulath was in there armoring up as well. He had heavy scale and chain mail on. The armor was all dyed black. He put on two black steel gauntlets and placed his shin plates on his shins. Last piece of armor he put on were shoulder plates that protected his upper arm and elbow. He grabbed a six and a half foot tall bow and a quiver full of arrows. One of his swords was strapped onto the quiver. A normal sized katana was on his belt on the left side and a large dagger with a dragon as the handle on his right side. He bowed and exited.

"Why does he always bow?" Spyro asked.

"It's part of their customs. It is politeness and showing respect. It is the third standard of Bushido," Ignitus replied.

"Bushido?" asked Cynder.

"Yes, Bushido is a code of morals that the Shadows of Katsumoto live by. They took it from the ancient warriors from their old homeland called Samurai," Ignitus answered.

"Where did they come from?" asked Spyro.

"They came from a different realm that is unknown to us," Ignitus replied, "Originally they were here because they were criminals, lawbreakers, and murders. The fortress to the north that belongs to them was once their prison. A single man named Katsumoto wished to make peace to the ones who placed him their. He spread his idea through the prison and soon gained followers in his ideals."

"They were criminals?" Cynder asked.

"Yes, but Katsumoto began to respect the guards and his followers did also. The guards were stunned and began giving them more rights. Those who didn't want to be part of making peace like Katsumoto's group set up a rebellion. They planned a prison break and an attack on the realm that they came from. The plan was executed and they took their prison fortress. Katsumoto's followers were tempted with freedom, but they refusing knowing that they would be rewarded if they stayed. A few guards survived and found the followers of Katsumoto and knew that they wanted only peace. The guards brought the followers and Katsumoto to the chapel and barred the doors. They explained that there was going to be a counter attack to kill the criminals. They would safe under the protection of the guards though. The time came and the criminals were killed. They strike force came to the chapel and the guards opened the doors telling the commander what had happened."

"What happened to them?" Cynder asked.

The strike force gave them the fortress to live in and learned that Katsumoto was formed a order that would protect those who needed it in this realm. They allowed them to live freely. They were able to grow in size since their race would send orphans to grow up and succeed them. Shadedulath was the first orphan to be brought to the realm. The orphan is then given to an experienced warrior to train and serve. Katsumoto took Shadedulath as his adopted son."

"Wow," Spyro said.

"Ok let's armor you two up. Spyro I'll do your armor and you can get Cynder's when I'm done with you."

Ignitus brought a stash of armor. All the pieces were a deep purple and gold colored. Ignitus picked out leg guards and put them on. Next came a suit of chain mail that covered Spyro's body. Over that was placed a purple cloak. Ignitus placed a large plate that covered his chest and torso. It was beautifully decorated with many gold details and purple jewels. Ignitus placed several plate pieces that fit on his tail covering the top and sides, but left the underside of the tail exposed. Last was a great helm, beautiful and strong. It was truly a work of art. The details were extremely detailed and must have taken a master some lengthy amount of time to create. Spyro placed the helmet aside as he started to get Cynder's armor ready. Ignitus left them and headed back to the grotto.

Cynder walked over to him and looked him over. Spyro noticed and smiled as Cynder finished saying, "My purple boy is now a purple knight."

"I really look that good?" Spyro asked.

"You always look good, but you look professional and extremely handsome," Cynder said putting emphasis on the last two words, "I really like this side of you."

"Well thank you," Spyro replied leaning in giving her few licks, "Now let's get you ready."

"Ok," Cynder said as she raised her tail to his chin and flicked it flirtingly.

Spyro chuckled and grabbed some leg guards and put them on. Cynder's armor was black and deep pink colored. He placed the chain mail on along with a black and pink colored cloak. He then placed the chest plate on her. He placed the tail armor on and pulled the helmet out of the pile. It like Spyro's was beautifully decorated. He gently placed it on her head. He stepped back and checked her out.

"You look beautiful and stunning," Spyro complimented.

"Thank you, you're so sweet," she kissed him, "Now let's get your helmet on." She picked it up and placed it on his head. "A great touch."

They entered the grotto and Ignitus spoke up, "Now that we are all here. We have to make sure none of the shadow spawn get into the temple. We will need a few warriors guarding the interior while the others defend it from outside and the entrances. We Guardians will be protecting the gate. If you need one of us you will be able to tell who is who based on the color armor. I have red armor, Volteer has the yellow, Cyril has the blue, and Terrador has the green armor. Spyro, Cynder, and Chromius will also be in the battle. Spyro has purple armor, Cynder has black and pink, and Chromius was silver. Shadedulath if you would be able to gather a few warriors to protect the interior that would be great."

Shadedulath gathered volunteers, there were probably a group of eight warriors. Two to protect each main interior room. Spyro, Cynder, Chromius were given the task of guarding the balcony with fifteen warriors. Another fifteen were to help the Guardians and the rest went with Shadedulath at the secret entrance.

Night approached and clouds rolled in blocking the moon and stars. Spyro and Cynder sat on the balcony. Cynder was next to Spyro, laying her head on his armored shoulder as they talked.

"If you need anything just call my name and I'll help you. I'll protect from whatever comes against us," Spyro said.

"Thank you," Cynder said as she kissed him.

They were interrupted when one of the humans sighted the creatures.

"How many?" asked another human.

"About a thousand, from the looks of it," replied the first human.

"A thousand!?" the second yelled. He cursed and drew his bow. Everyone on the balcony got ready. All fifteen men had their bows ready.

Black shapes appeared on the edge of the balcony. Their forms were revealed, as they grew closer. They were grotesque creatures, mutated into horrors from Hell.

Several humans fired their arrows. The projectiles hit the shadow spawn and killed them. More came over the edge and the rest of the humans fired their arrows. The creatures fell to the missiles as more came over the edges. The humans started to pick targets and continued to fire. Spyro, Cynder, and Chromius fired their elemental attacks at the dark creatures. One of the shadow spawn got past the attacks and assaulted Spyro.

The creature was large, probably eight feet tall. It had large fangs, claws, and horns. Its eyes were blood red and radiated with evil energy. It raised a shadowy claw and swung at Spyro yelling, "Purple one dies!"

Spyro dove out of the way as the claws sunk into the balcony. Spyro fired a blast of flames that burned the shadow spawn. The creature roared as the fire burned it. Shadows grew around it and covered the fire, putting it out. Spyro fired a stream of ice on the creature. The ice cover the right half of the body, but the shadow spawn seemed to change its form and separated itself from the wall of ice. Spyro dived at it stabbing his horns into the creature's black hide. The shadow spawn screeched and picked Spyro up. It threw him across the balcony and charged at Spyro. Spyro got up and saw the attack, but was too late. The claws entered his chest. The armor prevented the claws from hitting any important body organs, but the claws dug into his flesh under his scales. Spyro roared in pain and bit down on the hand that was stabbing him. The creature threw his arm back throwing Spyro to the other side of the balcony, knocking off his helmet, in front of Cynder who just killed a Shadow spawn.

"Spyro!" she cried looking at the wounds, "What happened?"

Spyro was still winded from the blow and couldn't talk yet. The shadow spawn raced towards Spyro again. It grabbed Cynder and threw her aside. The shadow spawn readied itself for another strike, but stopped as Cynder jumped onto its neck and slashed at it. The shadow spawn cried out and grabbed Cynder and began to choke her. Cynder stabbed her tail blade into the creature, but the hold only tightened. Spyro's anger flared as he saw this. His eyes started to glow purple and he fired a beam of Convexity at the shadow spawn, blasting a hole through its head. Spyro didn't stop there he fired several more beams into the creature, punching massive holes through its body. The body fell to the ground and Spyro was breathing deeply as he began to fire at other shadow spawn. He was going wild as he destroyed spawn after spawn. When the last one on the balcony was obliterated Spyro stopped firing.

The men all cheered, "Haza!"

But not all were celebrating, Cynder went over to Spyro. She placed a claw on his shoulder and Spyro turned around sharply ready to fight. Cynder took a step backward as Spyro glared at her with empty, glowing eyes.

"Spyro it's me, Cynder," Cynder said.

Spyro seemed to relax, but his eyes remained enveloped in the Convexitial energy. Cynder wondered if he might go off again. She hoped that he would be normal soon. She hated seeing him like this since every time he entered this stage he seemed in pain and angry.

"Spyro?" she whispered. Spyro merely stood there as if he was frozen in time. "Spyro, come back, come to me. Don't leave me without your touch," she whispered as she started to break up and cried.

Spyro started to move a little, but stopped.

"Damn it, move," Spyro thought, fighting against his body, trying to move it.

He pushed all of his energy into moving and his body began to move, slowly though. He got over to Cynder and wrapped his wings around her. Cynder looked up at his still glowing eyes.

"He looks so sad," Cynder thought. "Spyro? Is it you?" she asked.

"Yes it is, my love," Spyro's voice returned to normal as he said this. Cynder buried her head into his armored chest and wept. "Cynder," Spyro asked, "What's wrong?" He placed a finger under her chin and raised it, looking her straight in the eye.

"You," Cynder replied, "You're hurting, I see it in you, you're in so much pain and have so much anger when using Convexity. I hate seeing you like that. It's not who you are."

"But it is who I am," Spyro argued, "Convexity has become a part of me and I can't stop it."

"No, that's not true," Cynder said quickly, "I know you better than anyone else and I know you don't have that much anger and you aren't in that much pain."

Spyro couldn't argue with her because he knew she was right to some degree.

He held her close and comforted her, "I'm here for you and that's all that matters right now."

All the humans ran past the couple, shouting orders and advice.

"Where are they going?" asked Cynder.

"To help finish the battle," Spyro replied as he started to pull away from her.

She stopped him and pulled him back into the embrace pleading, "Spyro, stay with me, don't leave me, they can handle the battle. You need to rest."

Spyro held her and knew that she was right again, but he hated leaving the battle incomplete. He realized the best thing to do was help his love. They headed towards the temple.

A roar sounded as Cyril fell to the ground with a small black dagger sticking out of his side.

Ignitus blasted a shadow spawn with a storm of fire and yelled, "Volteer get Cyril inside."

Volteer nodded and dragged Cyril into the temple. Several of the humans were dead and another two were badly injured, but continued to fight. A volley of arrows fell from the sky and skewered most of the shadow spawn. Ignitus looked back as Shadedulath, his group and the balcony group, descended and joined battle.

Shadedulath dove into a group of shadow spawn and fought them alone. The group consisted of five creatures. The first one swung and Shadedulath ducked as he swung his sword low, cutting the legs off of two spawn. He turned and slashed upwards catching another spawn, splitting it in two. He kicked another in the face knocking it to the ground; he finished it off by drawing his large dragon dagger and stabbed it into the spawn. He prepared both blades as the last spawn attacked. Shadedulath cut off the hand of the shadow spawn. It howled and swung with its other hand. Shadedulath intercepted the arm with his other blade and cut through the shadowy flesh. He rammed his sword into its gut and cut off the head with the dagger.

The other warriors that took to close combat were holding up very well. Shadedulath's second in command, Captain Jack Walker swung both of his bladed whips. He used them with deadly efficiency. He caught one's hand in one whip and lashed out at its face with the second. The whip ripped through its head, leaving a trail of black mist in the air.

Volteer returned to the battle and assisted the Guardians. The three elderly dragons were surrounded, but fought on. Terrador fell to the ground as another shadowy dagger pierced his chest. Volteer turned and tried to assist the earth guardian, but was stabbed in the back a black dagger. He fell to the ground next to Terrador. Ignitus continued to fight, blasting them with fireballs and jets of flames, but a shadowy figure came from the enemy ranks and threw a black dagger at the red dragon, punching a hole in the red chest armor. Several men guarded the Guardians' bodies until the battle was over. Chromius charged into the fray enraged by what had happened. He unleashed blasts of silver flames over the enemy, but was quickly surrounded by the massive number of shadow spawn. He kept them back for a short time by killing many. Finally the same shadowy figure knocked him unconscious and carried him away. Several spawn escorted him.

Shadedulath saw this and charged through the few remaining shadow spawn killing them. He ran after the ones that kidnapped Chromius. Several of the escorts turned and attacked Shadedulath.

He ran full speed towards them, ready to kill every last one shouting, "For Katsumoto!" as he attacked them.

Spyro could hear the battle outside and desired to join it. Cynder knew he was thinking about the battle and decided to take his mind off of it. Spyro was looking at the window. She ran her claw under his chin. Spyro snapped to attention and Cynder laughed.

"What?" Spyro asked, failing to see the humor in her actions.

"Oh nothing," she replied innocently, "You told me it's a lot of fun tickling someone so I thought I might try it." She tickled his sides and he squirmed. He fought back by tickling her. They both continued until Spyro pulled her in and locked lips with her. Cynder stopped and brought her hands up to his face. They continued for another minute until they broke. Spyro looked into her emerald eyes and whispered, "I love you."

Shadedulath walked towards the temple with a frown on his face. The six men that waited outside for him bowed their heads and followed Shadedulath in.

Shadedulath stopped in the grotto and asked his healers, "How are they doing?"

"They have been poisoned, but we were able to neutralize it," one of the healers answered, "Did you find the young ones?"

"No, they escaped with Chromius. I couldn't catch them," Shadedulath said shaking his head.

"What about the other two?" asked the healer.

"Spyro and Cynder?" he asked. The healer nodded. "You haven't seen them?" he asked.

The healer replied, "No, I was told by some of the men who fought with them that they were injured. No one has seen them."

Shadedulath ran out of the room and searched every room for them. He burst into the armory and saw Cynder talking Spyro in the corner of the room. They both looked over at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Shadedulath said, "No one saw where you two went so I thought you were captured like Chromius."

"Chromius was captured?" asked Spyro.

"Yes," he answered, "I tried to save him but the shadow spawn got way."

"Other than Chromius, how is everyone?" asked Cynder.

"Seven of my men are dead, three are injured, and the Guardians were poisoned, but are expected to make a full recovery. I see you both were injured a little."

"Yeah," Spyro said, "I fought the biggest shadow spawn out there and got these as a prize for taking out the big guy." Spyro showed the four large gashes in his chest from the claws of the shadow spawn.

"Well get some rest, we will deal with our new problems tomorrow morning," Shadedulath said as he left. Spyro and Cynder got up and went to Spyro's room for the night.

It was midnight and a shadow moved in the dark temple. The men all took the night off due to the battle. The shadow made its way into the grotto where the injured were at. There were three injured men sleeping with their swords in hand and the guardians. The shadow passed by them and headed for the Guardians. It stood over Ignitus and raised its hand placing it on Ignitus' heart and killed him with dark energy. He moved to Volteer and did the same. He repeated this process with Cyril and finally came to Terrador and ceased the beating of his heart.

The shadow smiled and mental said, "Master it is completed. They will be lost without their Guardians."

A whisper carried through the air with a supernatural and dark tone saying, "Well done, Delrothban. Finish the others off silently."

"Will be done, master," Delrothban thought. He approached one of the humans. He stepped down and a clump of hard dirt. It made a small crumbling noise. The three injured humans woke up with their blades drawn. Delrothban growled at his foolishness and swung at the humans.

The three shouted, "Haza!" as they blocked the attacks, waking up the warriors in the next room. The warriors grabbed their swords and weapons and charged into the grotto.

They surrounded the shadowy creature and Delrothban growled, "I can take all ten of you down."

"How about all forty three of us and me?" Shadedulath said as he approached Delrothban as torches were lit lighting up the shadowy figure. He was gray colored in the skin like stone. "I see you haven't change one bit since you left."

"Neither have you Shadedulath," Delrothban replied, "Your still Katsumoto's little pupil."

"Not any longer," Shadedulath said quickly, "He died fighting your master. Didn't he tell you that?"

"Katsumoto, my brother, why were you so foolish?" asked Delrothban who looked at the ground, "You should have been at my side not against me."

"You should have been at his side, helping him defeat the darkness that you swore to help destroy," Shadedulath yelled.

"It matters not," Delrothban replied, "That means there is no one who can stop me." He vanished into smoke and Shadedulath cursed.

"Find him and kill him," he ordered.

Everyone rushed out of the room and searched for the creature of shadow.

Spyro and Cynder were asleep in Spyro's room. Cynder lay on Spyro's chest while he held her. Her head was next to his on the pillow. Cynder was sleeping peacefully while Spyro had the exact opposite.

"Spyro…" a dark and menacing voice filled his mind.

"Spyro…" the voice said louder.

Spyro found himself in darkness. He looked around, but saw nothing. "Who is there?" he asked.

"It's me Spyro, don't you remember?" the voice said, "You killed me three months ago. I have been haunting your dreams as often as I could. You know who I am."

"The Dark Master," Spyro spat, "What are you doing?"

A large black-scaled dragon with red eyes came from the shadows and grabbed him by the throat. "Very good. I'm here to make you miserable since you killed me."

"Let me go you devil," Spyro yelled.

"Fine," the Dark Master said dropping Spyro, "I'll torture you in a different way." He pointed to the ground behind him. Spyro wearily walked around him and saw the most horrifying thing in his life.

Cynder laid on the ground beaten and cut, bleeding from numerous wounds from what looked like a fierce battle.

"What did you do to her?" he shouted as he was ready to use every ounce of energy on him.

"I did nothing, look down at yourself and you will find who did this," the Dark Master answered.

Spyro looked down and noticed several injures, which he didn't remember having. What made his blood turn to ice was that his claws were covered in the blood of his love. He fell to his knees and his eyes began to glow purple as his instincts took over. He roared was wild and shook the shadows away from him.

The Dark Master smiled and began to laugh. "Feel the pain purple wretch. For there will be much more to come," he yelled.

Spyro glared at him and fired a blast of Convexity, ripping a hole in the Dark Master. The black dragon staggered backwards. "His powers have increased," the Dark Master thought, looking down at the hole in his chest. He didn't care though because he was a part of Spyro now. Spyro could try all he wanted to harm him in his dreams, but it would prove worthless.

"NO!" Spyro yelled eyes glowing brighter.

Spyro shot up and was breathing heavily. He was covered in sweat from the dream. He bowed his head and looked at the floor closing his eyes.

"It's just a dream," he whispered to himself. He placed his left claw on his forehead and tried to clear his mind. Cynder was awake and placed her claws on his shoulders. Spyro jumped as he felt her. He turned around and saw her and let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh Cynder, it's you," Spyro said still breathing heavily.

"Well of course it's me," Cynder replied, "Who else is sleeping with you?"

Spyro gave a weak smile and said, "I just wasn't sure…"

"Sure of what?" Cynder asked, trying to help Spyro.

"I…I thought at first that you were…the Dark Master," he said.

"Spyro he is dead, you killed him three months ago," Cynder reminded him.

"He isn't completely dead," Spyro replied.

"What do you mean?" Cynder asked.

"He is part of me ever since the Night of Eternal Darkness. Ever since his spirit escaped he has been in my mind surfacing every once and a while haunting me with horrible dreams," Spyro explained.

"What happens in these dreams?" Cynder asked.

The one question he really wished she didn't ask just came out. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't important, but he didn't want to lie to her and push her away. But also at the same time didn't want her to worry and be scared.

"He shows me…" Spyro started before he started to break up and tears began to roll from his eyes. Cynder held him as he continued, "You, but you were…dead," the last word was a whisper that pained him even to think about.

"No, I'm here Spyro, I'm not dead," Cynder said quickly assuring him that it was all a dream.

"But the worst thing is that I…I…caused…it," Spyro said as he wept harder trying to push the thought from his mind.

"No, Spyro, you would hurt anyone, you know that. It's all a dream and dreams aren't real," Cynder said comfortingly, "Let's get back to sleep. They say you never have two nightmares in one night."

They lay down next to each other. Spyro wrapped his arms around her, protecting her from some unknown threat. Cynder fell asleep quickly, but Spyro remained awake, unable to fall back asleep. He heard a small noise at the entrance of his room. He looked towards it, but found nothing but darkness. He quickly dismissed it and tried to fall asleep. He heard the same noise again, but it came from above him. He looked straight up and noticed that it was unnaturally dark. He realized what it was and threw Cynder aside as it descended with a sword ready. Cynder woke up and saw Spyro get out of the way just in time. The figure stood to its full height about six and a half feet tall. The figure raised the blade and swung it at Spyro. Spyro dodged the blow and fired a stream of flames. The fire hit the figure's head and knocked back its hood. Under the hood was a grotesque human head. It shocked Spyro since the creature was dead looking.

The creature laughed as asked, "What purple dragon, have you never seen a Dark One before?"

"No and I won't ever be seeing you again," Spyro fired an earth shot at the man.

The creature fell back and laughed, "Is that the best you got? That would never be able to kill me."

"Who are you and what do you want?" Spyro asked.

"I'm Delrothban and I'm here to collect your heads," he answered. Delrothban swung the blade again at Spyro but missed. He quickly threw a dagger at Spyro. The black blade hit his upper right shoulder as he tried to dodge it. He yelled out in pain as the blade's poisonous features started to eat at the skin around in the blade. He quickly felt his strength flee him and he fell to his knees. Delrothban turned towards Cynder and was ready to swing his blade. Spyro felt his energy soar as his eyes glowed purple. He got up and fired a beam of Convexity that hit Delrothban's shoulder.

"You touch her and you die," Spyro threatened, his voice distorted as always when he was using Convexity.

Delrothban laughed as said, "The only who could kill was my brother, now that he is dead, I can't be killed. He was the only one who knew the secret." He turned towards Cynder again and ball of Convexity smashed into his back. Delrothban fell to the ground and Spyro ran up to him and whipped his tail against the back of Delrothban's head. He fell unconscious and Spyro was ready to fire a beam of Convexity into his head when Cynder stopped him. Spyro had so much Convexitial energy surging through him that the dagger in his shoulder was slowly being dissolved away.

"Spyro, don't do this, it isn't you," Cynder said hoping he would stop.

Spyro let the Convexity die down and fade into nothing. He looked down at Cynder with his empty purple, glowing eyes and said, "He was going to kill you, he only deserves the same punishment."

"But not from you," Cynder replied pushing herself into his chest, "I know you're a warrior Spyro, but your not an executioner."

Four humans burst into the room with their weapons ready. They saw Delrothban on the ground and immediately surrounded him weapons pointed at him. They noticed he was unconscious and took him away.

Spyro started to follow them, but Cynder held him back and said, "You don't need to see it Spyro."

"I want to though," Spyro replied, his voice gave Cynder shivers. It was so different from the one she loved. "I want to see him be punished for his dark deeds."

"No, no you don't," Cynder argued, "Hold me like you did after that night at the Well of Souls. After we were free from the crystal."

"I'm incapable of that," Spyro said, "I'm not the one that you remember from years ago. I have changed too much Cynder, I'm only causing you pain."

"No," she quickly said, "It's just a different side of you. You are still the one I fell in love with many years ago. You are just showing a dark side right now."

"It's not a dark side," Spyro disagreed, "It's my only side."

"No it's not," she replied, "You are not like this all the time."

"But it is becoming me," Spyro countered, "It may not be entirely me, but it soon will be. Day by day it clams more of me and destroys my free will."

Cynder started to shed tears, "No, I refuse to believe it. It will never take over this kind, brave, courageous, strong, and loving soul. It could do that to anyone else, but not yours. Your soul is the purest I have ever seen. You only want to do good for others and that is why you are strong and can over come great trials, it's what I love the most about you." The last phrase was a whisper and Spyro returned to normal. His eyes stopped glowing and tears started to roll down his face.

"Oh Cynder," he cried, "Thank you, thank you for not giving up on me. I'm sorry for disagreeing with you. That wasn't me though. I'm losing myself to the power inside of me. It's taking me over slowly. I don't know how much long I can last."

"No, no Spyro, you aren't going to be lost. I'll always be here for you, like you are for me. I won't let you go without fighting for you," Cynder said comfortingly, "I love you Spyro."

"I love you too Cynder," Spyro returned.

They held each other there letting each other know that they wouldn't leave one another.

Shadedulath was standing by Delrothban who was still unconscious.

"How do we kill him, my lord?" asked one of the humans.

"Katsumoto was the only one to know, but he passed that knowledge down to me encase he died," Shadedulath said, "I can't share it, but I will kill him when the time comes."

"What do you mean?" asked a man.

"I mean that I will not kill him now since it's not his time. His death will come at a later when the shadow darkens the most. He will pose a small threat though in the future. Drug him. I want him unconscious while we move him," instructed Shadedulath, "If we kill him Marthaeter will know and he will make a new leader for his forces. With Delrothban still alive, Marthaeter will wait for his return and that will give us several weeks of additional time."

"Where are we heading my lord," asked another man.

"East," Shadedulath answered, "We will head east for a few days and then head north, back to base."


	3. Chapter 3: The Raids

**Wow. I hate school and its projects. I'm also shocked that I got no reviews on the last chapter. Well at least I had a lot of people read the story so far according to Reader Traffic. So if you are reading this chapter please, please send a review. I hope everyone is still reading. Enjoy.**

Chapter 3: The Raids

Seven piles of grey stones lay in front of four large statues of dragons.

Shadedulath stepped forward and announced, "Today we remember all those who died to protect this temple. The last symbol of hope for the friends of dragons." He turns around and bows his head to the stones that served as markers of the brave who fell. He continued, "Honor the brave who fought, honor the dead who fell, honor the world they tried to save. Never shall we forget Uthday, Shacda, Izu, Zenit, Buhan, Gishon, Helta, Ignitus, Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador. Their deaths were caused by one of our own, Delrothban. We are moving back to the base up north to gain a better footing. We will return this place to its glory once we are finished with Marthaeter."

Spyro looked back the temple. His home. He remembered all the good times there with the Guardians and especially Cynder. The temple had been the one place he truly felt safe.

Cynder looked back with him and whispered, "It's ok Spyro. We will come back here in time."

Spyro smiled at her and said, "Everything from my life was there. It's going to be hard to leave it behind. At least I still have you."

Cynder smiled and gave him a lick on the cheek, "That's very sweet."

They turned away from the temple and followed the humans that were leading the way. Away from their home and friends. To an unknown place for them.

It had been a week since they left the temple. They left Delrothban by a small cave about three days back. They drugged him so he wouldn't wake up for another day or two. Shadedulath had about eight men head back towards the temple, making sure that they left semi-noticeable tracks that lead back to the temple.

Once they arrived back at the temple they would head west for a day and then head to a small outpost they held in the north. Delrothban wouldn't be able to find it and once the time was right the men would meet back up with them. Shadedulath knew that Delrothban would head back to the temple and by the time he found out they weren't there they would be at the base.

Spyro and Cynder took in the landscape around them, not recognizing the area. Snow covered the land and everything looked bleak and pale. Spyro guessed they were near Dante's Freezer due to the fact that there were ruins of ancient outposts that they passed about every hour or so. Night fell and they stopped for the day. The men quickly set up small white cloth sheets on sticks about six feet high. They were make shift tents. Several men took watch duty and started a small fire. There were about five men to each watch shift. Spyro and Cynder were in their tent, talking quietly to each other.

"I wonder when we will get there?" asked Cynder, "I'm getting tired of walking."

"Shall I carry you the rest of the way?" asked Spyro jokingly.

"That would be nice," she replied in the same joking manner.

"Ok then, I'll carry you the rest of the way," Spyro said.

"I'm just joking," Cynder said.

"I wasn't," Spyro simply stated.

"Well thank you, that is very nice," Cynder replied, "It's kind of exciting, seeing how a different race lives isn't it?"

"Yeah," Spyro replied, "I'm just wondering if we will ever be able to get Chromius back."

"We will in time," Cynder said. She yawned and locked lips with Spyro and said, "Good night."

"Good night," Spyro replied back with a kiss. They curled up next to each other and fell asleep.

Everyone woke up early and took down the tents and prepared to leave. When everyone was ready they left and continued northwards.

It was about noon when Spyro heard a familiar noise, a loud screeching noise growing louder and louder. Spyro turned around and saw a Dreadwing flying towards them.

"Dreadwing," Spyro yelled.

The men instantly took cover and prepared their bows, reattaching the bowstring. The Dreadwing was closing fast and was focused on Spyro and Cynder. It dove at Cynder and was preparing itself for its meal when Spyro smashed into the large winged creature, knocking it to the ground. Cynder turned and saw that Spyro was about to fight the beast.

Spyro fired a stream of fire at the Dreadwing, which took off, avoiding the blast. Spyro took off as well and charged towards the Dreadwing. The Dreadwing opened its mouth and was ready to bite down on Spyro, but Spyro barrel rolled and slashed at the top of the head with his claws, drawing blood. Spyro turned in mid air and dove at the creature. He landed on its back and slashed at it with his claws while stabbing it with his tail. The Dreadwing screeched and landed on the ground. It immediately rolled on the ground on top of Spyro. Spyro was caught under the beast and was trapped. He charged up an earth shot and blasted the Dreadwing off of him.

The Dreadwing flapped its large leathery wings and hovered in the air. It unleashed a screech blast from its mouth, hitting Spyro, dazing him. The Dreadwing dove at him and pinned him to the ground. Spyro was beginning to recover from the massive headache and dizziness that he had received from the blast and saw the Dreadwing about to bite off his head. Out of nowhere a fireball struck the beast on its side. The Dreadwing fell over and Spyro stabbed his tail spike through the Dreadwing's throat and it died.

Spyro turned towards Cynder and the humans all were facing the creature that saved Spyro. A young orange dragon was standing on a hill twenty feet away. All the humans had an arrow notched and the bowstring pulled back, aiming for the dragon.

Shadedulath lowered his sword and said, "Lower your weapons."

The dragon descended the hill and approached Spyro and Cynder and said, "I thought you might need some help."

"Thanks," Spyro said, "What's your name?"

"Firecurse," the orange dragon answered, "Yours?"

"My name is Spyro and this is Cynder," Spyro replied, "Where are you from?"

"Far north," Firecurse answered, "I heard of the news of your victory over the Dark Master and that you were at the temple. So I set out to temple to meet you and train under the Guardians."

Spyro and Cynder's looks saddened when he mentioned the Guardians. "They are no longer alive," Cynder said filled with sorrow.

"What?" asked Firecurse.

"They died a short time ago in a battle at the temple," Spyro explained, "One of our friends was taken away and we now seek a way to rescue him."

"I'm sorry," Firecurse said, "I didn't know."

They both nodded and Spyro said, "You are free to join us if you want."

Firecurse accepted and joined them.

A day later they arrived at the base. It was in the side of a mountain and very well hidden. You could easily miss it even if you were within a half-mile of it. There were about two hundred men waiting inside for Shadedulath. Shadedulath asked if Spyro could follow him for a minute.

Firecurse was greatly attracted to Cynder. She had always been with Spyro, but he thought that he might be able to win her over. He approached her and said, "Hey Cynder."

"Oh, hi Firecurse," she replied, "Is this place just amazing. It is so similar to the Dragon Temple."

"Not as amazing as you are," he replied.

Cynder looked at him with a confused look on her face and said, "What?"

"It's not as amazing as you are," he repeated.

"Firecurse," Cynder replied seriously, "If you are trying to see if I want you, I don't because I have Spyro."

"What's so great about him?" he said trying to make her double think about Spyro.

"Everything," she said sharply, "He has always been there when I needed him and he loves me more than anything as I do him."

"Are you sure that it isn't just that he is the first dragon you met?" he asked.

Cynder was getting mad and said, "No. He saved me from myself and has risked his life for me on many occasions. It was love that was meant to be. Love at first sight for both of us. We will always be together and our love will last for all time, nothing will ever change that."

"Whatever," Firecurse said, "You have fun in your little make believe land of love with each other. If you are looking for a real dragon come find me. I have what you want."

Cynder growled as Firecurse walked away. "Damn him. I wish that Dreadwing would have eaten him," she said to herself, "Spyro is my love and I will never stop loving him."

Shadedulath spoke loudly for all who were present to hear, "Marthaeter has returned to this realm and is preparing to take it since the Dark Master failed to do so." Cynder entered and stood next to Spyro. Shadedulath continued, "Delrothban is carrying the commands of Marthaeter and will be the leader of his forces. Thankfully it will be sometime before he can reach the Shadow Vale so we have time to prepare. Unfortunately we don't nearly have enough man power to hold his forces at bay." He opened a large map that showed the realm. At the far northern edge of the map was a small picture of a portal labeled the Portal of Shadows. Shadedulath pointed at it and said, "This is the only way in or out of the Shadow Vale. If we can muster a large enough force we can siege the portal and hold back the armies until our engineers can figure out a way to destroy the portal. To gather the number of warriors needed we will have to recruit locals and free everyone we can from the enemy prison camps. We will start by striking small prison camps and eventually their largest prison camp. The one where Chromius and several hundred locals are and maybe a few dozen Shadows of Katsumoto are being held. We will leave in two days when our decoy party returns."

The courtyard emptied quickly as everyone prepared to leave. Shadedulath was standing a few feet away from a large tree in the middle of the courtyard.

Spyro and Cynder walked over towards him and he said, "The Prophet blossom, you can search for it your entire life and it wouldn't be a wasted life. Or at least that is what Katsumoto always told me. I would agree with him. It is truly a great sight to see. I have seen several blossoms over the few years and each time it is breath taking. That is why it remains here in the courtyard. It gives us something to enjoy besides battle."

"It's beautiful," Cynder said.

"Yeah," Spyro agreed.

"Katsumoto was a student of war, but was also a student of nature. He enjoyed nature and would often go out into the forest for the day," Shadedulath said, "He admired the beauty that nature produced for him to observe." Shadedulath looked at the tree one last time before he turned and went towards the interior of the fortress.

Seeing that they were alone, Cynder told Spyro, "Spyro, Firecurse is hitting on me."

"What?" Spyro asked shocked.

"He is trying to get me to fall for him," she replied.

"Has it worked?" Spyro asked.

Cynder glared him, "I would never fall for someone as low as him. He is trying to steal me from you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Of course it does," Spyro said embracing her, "I was just joking about that. I know you would never do something like that."

"Thank you," Cynder said, "Would you try to keep him away from me for a while?"

"Sure," Spyro replied, "In fact I think I know just how to."

"How?" Cynder asked.

Spyro leaned in a whispered, "I'll ask Shadedulath to make him his assistant."

Cynder locked lips with Spyro and thanked him. Little did they know that Firecurse was watching the last few seconds before they broke. He shook his head and said to himself, "Cynder, Cynder, Cynder, when will you see he isn't for you?"

The decoy party returned as scheduled and everyone was preparing to leave. Shadedulath had called upon as many of the warriors that were in the fortress to come with, leaving about fifty men to stay behind and guard the fortress. Shadedulath ordered everyone to move out and the strike force headed south towards the nearest prison camp. Their force was made up of nearly five hundred men. The strategy was to take out the smaller camps first and recruit those from the camps to help save the others from other camps.

They reached the first camp when the sun was setting. When the sun finally vanished from the sky the plan was put into effect and everyone went to their position. Spyro, Cynder, Firecurse, and a small group of men would lead the first attack, distracting them so the other two groups could free the prisoners and support the first group by attacking from behind.

Shadedulath looked at the camp from their position five hundred feet away. He drew an arrow and notched it. The twenty other men did like wise and waited for the signal. Luckily they were able to take cover in the nearby ruins that were extremely close to the camp.

Each person took a target and fired as Shadedulath whispered, "Release." Twenty arrows flew from the bows and struck their targets. "Charge," Shadedulath said.

Shadedulath drew his katana and dagger and dashed across the distance. Spyro and Cynder followed close behind with Firecurse trailing them. The rest of the warriors charged after them.

The camp guards were made up of dark creatures known as shadowlings. These four-foot tall creatures were weaker versions of shadow spawn. The surviving shadowlings charged at their attackers. Shadedulath thrust his sword through one and quickly cut the head off another. The few men held up very well with skills that were lesser than Shadedulath's, but were still impressive.

The other two groups joined in the attack and closed in on the enemy. Walker, Shadedulath's right hand man, led the attack and flailed at the enemy with his bladed whips. He swung one at and shadowling and ripped off its head with a jerk of his whip. A shadow spawn was present and Walker swung his other whip at the shadow spawn, catching the creature's weapon in its lashes. Walker quick brought his free whip across the shadow spawn's face, slicing it into many pieces. A warrior near him fired an arrow that dug itself into a shadowling that was about to attack Walker. The warrior quickly drew another arrow and fired it into another shadowling. Behind the archer came a warrior with a katana like glaive and sliced a shadowling in two. He spun around and decapitated another's head.

While the one group covered, the second group started to free the prisoners and gave them weapons to help fight. They were citizens of the land, no Shadows of Katsumoto where in this camp though. The prisoners were happy to assist the battle and charged into the fray hacking at the dark creatures like wild animals.

Shadedulath blocked a black blade that was directed at his head. He quickly brought his dagger up and cut open the shadow spawn's neck. He moved aside as the body fell and stabbed an oncoming shadowling. He spun and drove one of his blades into an unaware shadowling following with a cut to the stomach of one that was charging at him. Shadedulath saw out of the corner of his eye the three young dragons were holding up rather well. Seeing that they could defend themselves he focused on quickly ending the battle.

He sprinted into the large mass of dark creatures before him and swung his blades at the warriors in front, felling them. He continued and stabbed his blade into a shadow spawn's head and ripped it back out. He proceeded by slicing through another shadow spawn and two shadowlings. He continued to move faster not letting his enemies attack him. He drove one blade into the gut of a shadowling and slashed at its throat, cutting off its screech. He stabbed another shadowling and brought his sword down on the head of a third shadowling. He killed the last one and looked around. His men were killing off the last of the creatures and were searching the camp.

Walker came over to him as he put away his whips and said, "All the prisoners are willing to continue with us and all enemies are dead. Though we found no other Shadows, we did gain about fifty soldiers."

"Good," Shadedulath replied, "Would you oversee their training as we travel?"

"Of course my lord," Walker answered.

They prepared to move out and headed for their next target.


	4. Chapter 4: Push to Freedom

**Happy Thanksgivings everyone. Here's the next chapter as you might have guessed. A lot of fighting so it should be enjoyable. R&R.**

**Chapter 4: Push to Freedom**

A shadow spawn screeched as it fell to the ground on fire. Spyro jumped over the blazing hulk and blasted another one with his fire. Cynder was ten feet away from him and was cleaving the head off a shadowling. She turned to see Firecurse trying to fight his way over to her. She quickly looked away and made her way to Spyro. Spyro finished off a shadowling and turned to she approach.

He gave her lick on the cheek and asked, "How are you doing?"

"Better than the first prison attack last week," Cynder replied.

"Has Firecurse been bugging you recently?" Spyro asked.

"A little bit," Cynder replied, "I would feel so much better if you just told him to back off, instead of letting Shadedulath give him stuff to do. It's giving him an excuse to talk to me when he is running messages for him."

"Fine," Spyro replied, "If it makes you feel better I'll talk to him."

"Thanks," Cynder said as she gave him a quick kiss.

Firecurse was watching the whole thing from a good thirty feet away. He spat on a corpse of a shadow spawn and said, "Spyro is almost as bad as you are." He looked down at the morbid corpse and said, "At least he smells better than you do." He charged over the body and engaged the next shadow spawn.

Several of the freed prisoners from the first camp were freeing the prisoners of this camp adding the size of the forces they had. They broke the locks on the cells and handed out light armor pieces and weapons. Once they were all ready the mob charged at the dark forces taking the creatures by surprise. They are barbaric fighters, brutal and wild, crazed fighters that killed plenty of enemies. They do their part off the battlefield as well, mostly healing our wounded and creating useful tools. But they are necessary for the battles to come and for life after the war.

With the aid of the freed prisoners the battle ended rather quickly. There were several wounded men due to the large force of enemies and their toughness, but all would live, thankfully. Everyone was needed in the upcoming battles. The war against Marthaeter will be hard and many lives will be lost paying for this freedom. They moved out of the camp and headed to the next camp, far in the south. It would be a long travel, but it would be necessary for the future.

The next morning they continued to their target. Suprisingly the large group moved quickly over the snowy terrain of the north. By midday nearly all the snow had vanished and they were walking on dirt and grass.

Cynder was walking next to Spyro and he asked, "Did Firecurse bug you last night?"

"No, but he will continue to soon," Cynder replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Well when something is bothering my lovely dragoness, I would like to know what I'm up against," Spyro said.

"Thanks," Cynder said as she gave him a lick, "You are going to talk to him, right? He doesn't seem to get it."

"Anything for you baby," Spyro replied, "I'll talk to him once he make camp for the night."

Cynder smiled and asked, "Baby? When did I become your baby?"

"Since we have been going out," Spyro replied.

Cynder rubbed her head against his.

They continued on with the rest of the group, but Firecurse was watching them and wasn't happy. "Enjoy your time with her while you can Spyro, She will be mine soon enough," Firecurse said coldly. Shadedulath just happened to walk by and heard this.

He turned towards Firecurse and gave him a look of disapproval and shock. "You must be crazy," Shadedulath said, "Cynder and Spyro are strongly connected, I doubt anyone can keep them from each other, not me, not Delrothban, not Marthaeter, and most certainly not you, Firecurse."

"We will see in time Shadedulath and I will laugh at you when you are wrong," Firecurse said as he turned away and left.

Shadedulath signaled for a few men to come over. He pointed to two men and said, "Follow Firecurse and remain unknown to him," he pointed to the other two and said, "Each one of you choose Spyro or Cynder and watch over them. If anything happens intervene and bring Firecurse to me." The four men bowed and went after their targets.

Night fell and the group stopped for the night. Cynder was back at her tent with a guard about five hundred feet away watching for Firecurse while Spyro looked for Firecurse to straighten things out. He searched for several minutes, but found nothing. He headed back to his tent. He was nearly at his tent when he noticed something to his right. He turned and saw Firecurse.

He quickly headed over to him and asked him, "Firecurse what are you doing over here?"

"Waiting for you to come back," Firecurse replied, "I'm being followed by two men. I haven't approached them yet, but I was wondering what you thought of it."

"Not sure," Spyro replied, "I could ask Shadedulath about it for you if you do something in return."

"Name it," Firecurse said.

"Leave Cynder alone," Spyro replied.

Firecurse sighed and looked at the ground just staring at the ground for a minute before he answered with, "No deal. I love Cynder too much to do that."

Spyro grew irritated and pushed him to the ground placing an ivory claw against his throat and warned, "Cynder and I will never be apart. You have no chance in hell with her. She is way out of your league. You will never be good enough for her."

"And as if you are?" asked Firecurse coldly.

"I may not be good enough for her, but she loves me and I love her too. As long as she loves me I'll never stop loving her back," Spyro replied, "Instead of stalking us, you should deal with your problem like dragon would, not a coward."

With that Spyro turned and went into his tent. Cynder was waiting inside. She seemed a little uneasy, but immediately perked up when she saw Spyro. She ran over and embraced him lovingly and he returned it.

"Did you tell him?" she asked a whispered voice.

"Yes," Spyro replied just as quietly, "I told him and hopefully he will stop."

"Thank you Spyro, thank you so much," said Cynder.

"Hey that's what I'm here for," Spyro replied, "I'm here to love you and take care of you."

She looked at him with a smile and kissed him.

Firecurse growled, "You will not keep her from me," from his spot.

A week passed and the small army found themselves near their target. A large prison camp surrounded by small palisade walls and wooden platforms. Shadedulath devised a tactic to take down the walls in a matter of seconds. It called for a weapon known as the rocket. They had several of these for special tasks and this was one of those times.

Night came quickly again and everyone prepared for the attack. They broke into three groups. The first was lead by Shadedulath, the second was lead by Spyro and Cynder, and the third was lead by Walker and Firecurse. Shadedulath's group had set up three rockets to be fired at the wall. He ordered them to be fired and the fuses were lit. After five seconds the three projectiles sped off towards their destination with a screech. The fireworks hit the wooden walls and exploded, knocking the wood wall over and setting it ablaze.

Spyro and Cynder fired a fireball at the their section of the wall, doing the same as the rockets. Firecurse followed and did likewise a minute later. Spyro and Cynder charged through the gap in the wall and saw that a portion of Shadedulath's forces where inside the camp firing fire arrows at evil warriors and platforms.

Spyro and Cynder attacked the nearest enemy. On one of the nearby platforms stood a grotesque creature. It was six feet tall and had several human characteristics. A noticeable difference was that its skin was rotting and ready to fall off. It bore a large sword that was easily five feet long. A Shadow of Katsumoto quickly drew an arrow, lit it, and fired it in front of the creature.

"Zeks are what we call those spawns," said the warrior. The fire caught on the wood and grew in front of the creature. It screeched as if it was dying from the fire. "They hate intense heat or light."

Spyro looked at Cynder and asked, "Thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah," Cynder replied.

They charged towards the mass of enemies and allies. They each fired a large stream of flames into the enemy forces. The roar of the flames was barely audible due to the harsh screaming and screeching of different spawns dying or being harmed from their attack. Many started to cover their eyes and run while others were blinded and wondered aimlessly as the warriors of Shadedulath's group cut them down. Cynder noticed something unusual and watched Walker who was swing around his whips. The interesting thing was that he set his whips ablaze, striking fear and pain into the hearts of the enemy.

Several zeks engaged Firecurse's group. Three warriors fired their arrows into the sickly creatures, but only slowed them. They fired a second volley and managed to kill two. The other four continued to charge forward.

Firecurse dove into one and bite at its neck, but not without having getting his own wound from the charge. He was struck on the shoulder with the heavy blade as the zek dropped it. He ripped the throat out of the zek, silencing it.

One of the veteran warriors drew his katana and gracefully sliced through one of the zek's arms and smoothly continued by driving the blade tip into the zek's neck. The zek fell to the ground and the veteran continued on to the next one.

Two younger warriors were engaged in a contest of swordplay with a zek. The zek was able to block everything that they threw. One warrior swung his blade low while the other swung at chest level. The zek blocked the chest strike and allowed its foot to be cut off. The first warrior continued by bringing his blade up and taking off the leg, making the zek fall to the ground. The second warrior quickly drove his katana into the head of the zek.

One of the bowmen quickly drew an arrow as the last zek charged at him. He ducked to the side and fired his arrow into the side of zek's head, killing it.

The enemies were all taken care of and the prisoners were released. Surprisingly there were ten Shadows of Katsumoto in this camp and they said about a hundred were in one section of the main prison camp alone and thought there would be more in other parts of the camp. They knew there were five sections to the camp so they could easily increase their numbers. They abandoned the camp and pushed back north as quickly as possible for the night.

The days seemed to blend together as they repeated themselves. Spyro and Cynder were both happy that Firecurse, for some strange reason, stopped bugging Cynder.

Unfortunately they were overdue. They stopped earlier than usual to step up camp. Spyro and Cynder were walking around the massive camp when they both heard the voice they hated the most.

"Hey Spyro," Firecurse shouted.

They both turned around and saw Firecurse approach them.

"Yes?" Spyro asked.

"I challenge you to a fight?" Firecurse answered, "Winner gets Cynder, as the old ways of dragons says. Winner of fight gets their mate."

"Cynder is not a prize that you can just win. She is a dragon, she has feelings and thoughts. You can't just decide for her who she is going to love."

"Enough talk, fight or die," Firecurse said with a passion that matched no other.

Spyro sighed and readied himself. Firecurse leapt forward at Spyro ready to claw his heart out. Spyro fired a current of electricity at Firecurse and threw him to the right. Firecurse landed on the ground and slowly got back up. He fired a jet of flames at Spyro. Spyro countered with his own fire. Spyro's flames were more powerful and pushed Firecurse's back. Firecurse stopped and charged at Spyro again.

Spyro remained were he was and waited until Firecurse was right on top of him before he threw his head up into the air, knocking Firecurse into the air. Spyro jumped into the air and whipped him with his tail and Firecurse crashed into the ground. Spyro landed and looked at Firecurse. Firecurse shot up and slashed Spyro's shoulder. Spyro gritted his teeth and thrust his head forward, stabbing a horn into Firecurse's side. Firecurse yelled in pain and stabbed his tail into Spyro's side.

Spyro started to bleed, but not as badly as Firecurse. Firecurse swung his tail at Spyro's feet. Spyro jumped up and unleashed a green wave of energy, which threw Firecurse back ten feet. Spyro created the Earth Flail and swung it at Firecurse. Firecurse had no time to react before the ball of earth energy smashed into him. Firecurse slowly stood up after the attack and fired a fireball at Spyro, which was short by two feet. Spyro laughed to himself thinking that Firecurse was losing his ability to fight. Firecurse rocketed through the smoke from the fireball and landed on top of Spyro. He immediately slashed Spyro's face with his claws, drawing blood. Spyro tried to force him off him but failed. Firecurse stabbed his claws into Spyro's chest. The claws penetrated his scales and drove deep into his chest.

Spyro roared with pain and bite down on Firecurse's claws. A digit fell off Firecurse's paw and he now roared in pain. Firecurse swung his claws at Spyro's neck hoping to kill him. Spyro thought he wasn't going to survive, he thought of Cynder and what would happen to her. He thought that Firecurse would mistreat her because she would hate him for killing him. He couldn't let that happen.

His eyes glowed intensely and Firecurse was taken by surprise from the flash of purple light, which blinded him. His claws sliced into his chin and left a deep cut. Spyro threw him off and stepped on his chest readying a blast of Convexity.

He was about to fire it when he heard Cynder yell, "Don't do it Spyro!"

Spyro turned and faced her. He spoke, his voice sounding distorted and unnatural as usual when he triggered Convexity, "Why not, he has been irritating us and nearly killed me."

"Because it isn't right," Cynder replied.

"Why not kill him? He will only cause more problems for us," Spyro said, "You have feelings for him don't you?"

Cynder shook her head, "No Spyro, the only one I have feelings for is the dragon right in front of me."

Spyro's eyes faded a little bit, but continued to glow. "I'm not the dragon that you use to love," Spyro said as through he was ashamed, "I'm not the same dragon you fell in love with four years ago. I'm corrupt and evil and darker than I was."

"No, no you're not," Cynder replied grabbing him, "You are still Spyro. The same Spyro that rescued me from the Dark Master in Convexity, the Well of Souls, and his fortress. You are still the Spyro that I have slept with for four years and the same Spyro that I have spent time with everyday. You are still the same Spyro who is trying to save the world from great evils and keep peace," a tear ran down her cheek, "You are still the Spyro that my heart desires and loves."

Spyro's eyes continued to fade and he said, "I have failed though."

"No you haven't," Cynder replied.

"Yes I have Cynder," Spyro argued, "I'm unable to control my own powers and I'm losing myself. I don't feel the same as I use to."

"Spyro, I will always love you no matter what happens to you. We will be able to fix any problem we run into," she said optimistically.

Firecurse was barely standing when he said, "Ha, see how long that will last for."

Spyro whipped his tail at Firecurse's head and knocked him unconscious. Cynder looked at him with disapproval, but Spyro gave her an 'It's not my fault' smile. She shook her and head and laughed.

Spyro gave her a kiss and whispered, "Thanks for not giving up on me."

"I'll never give up on you," she returned.

He pulled her into a loving embrace and whispered, "I'm sorry for all of this Cynder. I'm not worthy enough to have your love."

Cynder looked at him with disbelieve and said, "Don't you ever say that again. Of course you are worthy of my love. I choose who I give it to and that person is the most worthy of all and that is you."

"Thanks," Spyro replied.

"Why did you even say that?" asked Cynder.

"Sorry, it's something that Firecurse said," Spyro answered.

"Like?" Cynder questioned.

"He told me that only he was worthy of your love and I told him that he was no where near worthy of your love. He countered with, 'And you are?' I told him that I may not, but since we both love each other we will continue to be together, no matter what happens," Spyro shared.

"Well you are worthy," Cynder repeated as she gave him a passionate kiss to prove it. They broke and Cynder looked him over. "My God, we need to clean you up," she said, "Let's head back to the tent and I can deal with you there."

Spyro smiled and said, "I like where this is going."

"You will," Cynder replied.

Night ended and morning began and the camp was being taken down. Spyro and Cynder got out of their tent and Spyro was doing well. He and Cynder started to move out with the rest of the warriors that were ready to leave. Firecurse had his side bandaged up and was several hundred feet ahead of them with his head hung low in defeat.

Shadedulath came up to them and asked, "I heard you got into a little scrap with Firecurse last night. You both are alright?"

"Yeah," Spyro replied.

Shadedulath looked at Spyro's chest, face, chin and side wounds, which weren't wrapped with a questionable look and asked, "Are you sure?"

"I'd rather let them be shown and not hidden," Spyro answered.

"Unlike Firecurse?" Shadedulath asked.

"Not really, more like to show what I would do for Cynder, to warn others of what to expect," Spyro answered. Cynder gave him a lick on his unwounded cheek for the comment.

Shadedulath smiled, "Showing the enemy that you mean business and that you can sustain a fight with such injuries. I like the idea." He bowed to them and left.

"He is one of the strangest people I have ever met," Cynder said once they were out of earshot. Spyro nodded in agreement.

This time the journey was much shorter and they reached the last camp in three days. This camp was huge and more heavily defended. Luckily night fell quickly giving Shadedulath an opportunity to send several warriors to scout out the defenses. All the men returned later that night and informed Shadedulath. He ordered that we head away from the prison base for half the day and then turn back so we could take them by surprise.

Shadedulath led a team of ten warriors excluding Spyro and Cynder. They were at the wall and Shadedulath started to climb the wall with two men following him. They quickly and silently made their way up the old stonewall. Shadedulath reached the top of the twenty-foot tall wall and climbed over the ramparts. The two warriors followed him and there was the soft sound of metal stinking into flesh. A large black object was then thrown over the wall. It landed a few feet away from them. It was the corpse of a shadow spawn. One of the men signaled for the rest of the men to come up. The eight warriors started to climb the wall, as did Spyro and Cynder. They quickly followed Shadedulath to a building that was connected to the wall. They entered it and went inside. They were on the second floor of the building. Shadedulath exited the room and looked down over the railing of the hall. There were six shadowlings. Shadedulath made his way back to the others.

"There are only six, which should be easy for me," he said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He left again and came to the railing. He jumped over the railing and landed twenty feet below. He quickly charged up to a shadowling and drew his katana, cutting it in half. He swung the blade over his head in a swift arc and brought it down on another shadowling. Shadedulath managed to draw his dagger in time to slay a third shadowling before the other three noticed. The three charged at him hoping to tackle him to the floor where they would have the advantage. He dodged one and swung a katana at the second one, catching its head. The third flinched seeing the second get slashed in the face. Shadedulath took advantage and sliced into its gut. He spun around and slashed the last shadowling as it was going the swipe its claws at him. He called up to Spyro, Cynder, and the warriors to come down.

They came down and Shadedulath was looking out the window trying to see what was going on outside. He noticed that everything seemed normal and that they haven't been noticed. There were no more guards outside on the wall, courtesy to Walker and his warriors.

He had two warriors head back up stairs and to bring more warriors through the route they just took. Shadedulath crept out the door with Spyro and Cynder. They made their way to the next building and hid against the side of the building they were going to enter next. Shadedulath ran back the way he came and tapped on the window of the building signaling his warriors. They ran back to Spyro and Cynder and Shadedulath told his warriors to wait until he, Spyro, and Cynder finished inside. The three quietly made their way to the door. Shadedulath was first to enter and dive rolled in, whipping his katana out, cutting through a zek's leg. He continued and brought it up through its skull.

Spyro and Cynder entered and attacked. Spyro plowed into a shadow spawn, digging his horns into the black creature. He threw him off and thrust his tail through a zek. Cynder pounced onto a shadow spawn pressing her claws deep into the dark creature causing dark blood to come forth from the wound. She jumped off of it and slashed a shadowling with her tail blade.

Shadedulath drew a shorter katana and threw it at a shadow spawn and continued his graceful dance of death and killing. He thrust his blade forward through a zek and finished the last creature by kicking it and snapping its neck.

Firecurse was brought up with the next group of warriors and prepared to storm the camp. A group of shadow spawns made their patrol and they decided this was a good time to strike. Several warriors fired their arrows into them as the rest charged the patrol. Firecurse launched a fireball into the middle of the patrol and charged. He crashed through the dark creatures with his horns and claws. The warriors where beside him swing their extremely deadly katana, drawing blood after each stroke. The patrol was small and was quickly destroyed. Shadedulath, Spyro, Cynder, and their group came out and joined with the reinforcements. Shadedulath signaled for the men to follow and everyone pressed deeper into the camp.

As they came closer to the center of the camp the enemy presence increased. Shadedulath could see at least forty enemies. He had only twenty-three men, plus Spyro, Cynder, and Firecurse.

Shadedulath told Spyro and Cynder, "When the fighting begins make your way to the caves that is where the prisoners will most likely be. Free them and rejoin us."

They nodded and Shadedulath charged out into the enemy. Spyro and Cynder waited until more warriors followed and charged, trying not to engage any enemies. Luckily all the enemy forces were concentrating on the humans so they were able to seek past them.

The caves were not lit and the two dragons were forced to rely on their sense of hearing and smell. They picked up the smell of a dragon and followed it. For two minutes they ran down twisting tunnels until they reached a large cavern with touches lit. There were about fifty cells down in this cavern. They quickly began to break the locks and let the prisoners out. Most were locals and there were two hundred Shadows of Katsumoto. The last cell they came to had a silver dragon inside. They broke the lock and rushed into the cell.

"Chromius! Are you ok?" they both asked.

"Spyro? Cynder? How did you get here?" Chromius asked.

"Shadedulath brought us here to save you," Cynder said.

"Thank you," Chromius said.

They gathered everyone and made a raid on the armory just down the tunnel and armed everyone. They made their way back to the surface and joined the battle. Spyro and Cynder led the charge and crashed through the backs of the enemy. Firecurse saw this and purposely broke his engagement and ran around the conflict and joined Spyro and Cynder's forces.

Spyro and Cynder got separated and Firecurse came along side Cynder. She didn't notice him at first, but she did when Firecurse rubbed his side against hers. She spun around and was ready to kill her enemy and noticed Firecurse who had a grin on his face. She swiped her claws at him and he moved back.

"So where is Spyro? Not defending his love?" Firecurse said.

Cynder glared at him and shouted, "You sick bastard, I ought to kill you. Spyro and I got separated. He would never intentionally leave me."

"Cynder?" Spyro shouted, "Cynder?"

"Spyro, I'm here," she shouted in return. He found her and smiled. She smiled back at her love.

A shadowling came up behind Spyro and stabbed him in the side. Spyro roared in pain and he unlocked Convexity. His eyes glowed a bright purple and he clamped his jaws down on the shadowling and threw him across the battle. He continued his rampage and gathered Convexity energy onto his claws and swiped them through enemy after enemy.

Cynder fought her way to him, hoping that she could get there and save him before something truly bad might happen. She reached him as he breathed purple flames onto a group of enemies before him.

"Spyro," she said softly.

Spyro defeated him enemies before him and turned to Cynder. He looked at her with piercing and empty, glowing eyes.

"Spyro, don't do this again," she pleaded, "Resist this evil, you can beat it, I know you can."

Spyro seemed to relax and return to normal when a zek screeched and swung its blade down on Spyro's back. The blade bit deep and sent Spyro back into the rage. His eyes glowed brighter and Spyro spun around biting deep into the zek's neck and threw him over his head, despite the fact that the zek was a good three feet taller than Spyro, who was four feet tall, and at least three hundred pounds heavier.

The zek slammed into the ground and Spyro opened his mouth and let out an ancient and powerful roar causing the battle to cease and all looked towards the source. Spyro slowly made his way to the zek that was trying to flee from his enemy. Spyro pressed a claw down on the zek's back and the zek made the mistake of looking back at Spyro. Spyro opened his mouth and fired a blast of Convexity through the zek and roared again.

Every shadow spawn, shadowling, and zek retreated into the caves. Spyro gathered more Convexity energy to him and fired another Convexity beam into the cave. Screams and shrieks of pain could be heard from the cave. Spyro aimed at the cave's walls and made the cave collapse on the dark creatures inside. Spyro grinned with pleasure at what he had done. He felt something wrap around his tail and he quickly turned his head to see Cynder. She looked concerned and was hoping that he would respond. He didn't, he just continued to stare at her.

"Spyro?" she asked, "Come back, please."

Still there was no response.

"Spyro, don't do this to me," Cynder pleaded, "I need you, I love you, please."

He remained motionless. Cynder looked down and began to cry. This seemed to bring Spyro back it himself. He had no idea what say so he just wrapped his wings around here and let her rest her head on his chest, still crying.

Shadedulath signaled for everyone to return to camp, seeing that all his men didn't need to see this.

After a minute she looked up at Spyro's face and asked, "Spyro? It is you right?"

"Yes," he said sadly, "Cynder…I'm sorry that you have to keep going through this. I just can't control it. It overwhelms me so easily I feel like nothing to it." He was forced to take a deep breath and continued, "I hate this. How I'm not in control, that I'm causing you pain that you shouldn't have to deal with. I'm becoming just like the Dark Master."

"No," Cynder quickly replied, "You are nothing like the Dark Master. He has no one, he cares about nothing. You have me and you care about the world and its fate. You will never end up like the Dark Master Spyro, I know that."

"Thanks," Spyro said, "What do you think would happen to me if I didn't have you?"

"You would be in a huge mess and you would have no one to bail you out probably," Cynder replied, "Or you would just go on without knowing love, living a semi normal life."

"Thank God for the third door then," Spyro responded.

"What's the third door?" asked Cynder.

"The life I have right now," Spyro said. Cynder smiled and gave him a kiss. "I would never trade your love for anything."

"I know you wouldn't," Cynder replied. She gave him a kiss. When they broke they remained where they were holding each other close.


	5. Chapter 5: His Death

Here's another chapter. This story may run into a cease of posting chapters after chapter 8 since I'm still working on that chapter and I'm really busy. Also look for a songfic that I will be posting in the next couple of weeks, called Comatose. Song is Comatose from Skillet. Well enjoy this chapter and R&R please, my email is dead at the moment.

Chapter 5: His Death

Two weeks passed since the last raid on the prison camp. Everyone was at the base in the mountains where they planned out how to hold the pass that led to the Shadow Vale. Firecurse and Chromius were sent to the Shadow Vale to scout out the situation.

The two landed by the portal and entered it. The land of the Shadow Vale was bleak and dead. Nothing, but rocks and bare mountains for hundreds of miles. They explored the immediate area until Chromius came across a group of zeks. There were ten and they charged at Chromius with wild screams. Firecurse heard the screams and rushed over to assist Chromius.

Chromius fired a stream of quicksilver onto a zek. The quicksilver hardened and encased the zek in silver. He did the same to another before he was forced to fight in close-quarters. He drove his tail into one's throat and swiped his claws at another, slicing open its face.

Firecurse breathed columns of flames onto the zeks and ripped them to pieces when they were close enough.

More zeks came and this group was made up of at least fifty zeks. Both fought to beat them back, but slowly began to lose and Firecurse broke away and ran for the portal.

"Firecurse!" Chromius yelled as he was fighting off all the zeks now alone, "Come back I need help!"

"Sorry Chromius, my life is much more important than yours. I have someone waiting for me when I get back," he said with a smile as he watched a pair of zeks beat him down to the ground.

He turned and went through the portal as the zeks ripped Chromius up into bits.

Firecurse returned to the base a few hours later, tired looking from his mission.

Shadedulath welcomed him and asked where Chromius was. Spyro and Cynder came over to ask Shadedulath something, but Shadedulath stopped them.

"Where is Chromius?" he asked seriously.

"He didn't make it," Firecurse replied, "We were ambushed by a large group of zeks. I got separated in the fight and I tried to make my way to him, but he was struck down. Seeing that he was lost I charged out of the conflict and came back here to tell you."

Cynder turned and wept into Spyro's shoulder and Spyro wrapped a wing around her.

"He's lying Shade," Spyro calmly said.

"I know he is, but not about what," Shadedulath returned, "How many groups came at you?"

"Two," Firecurse replied.

"Right," Shadedulath said, "How many in each group?"

"First group had ten and the second had fifty," Firecurse answered.

"Right again," Shadedulath answered, "Typical patrol tactic that Marthaeter uses. Retell your story now."

Firecurse retold the story and Spyro stopped him when Firecurse said that he had tried to help Chromius.

"You didn't go back to help Chromius," Spyro said, "You left him to die as you escaped."

"Perhaps I did," Firecurse replied, "He was doomed away. He was surrounded so quickly he would have never escaped."

"Coward," Spyro spat, "And you watched him die didn't you?"

"You're calling me I coward?" Firecurse asked in disbelieve, "At least I kill the ones I fight."

"You want me to kill you?" asked Spyro with a harsh tone.

"I doubt you could," Firecurse tempted.

Spyro slowly drew away from Cynder who grabbed his tail with hers. He turned around and Cynder looked at him with a sad face.

"Don't Spyro," Cynder pleaded, "It's not worth it."

He moved back towards her and whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry, but I have to this time. After this I won't take another dragon's life I swear. I love you and just encase I die in this, I wanted you to know that you are and will always be everything to me."

"You will come back I know it," Cynder whispered back, "I love you too, more than anything."

They shared a kiss that could be their last. They broke and Firecurse was red hot with rage. He didn't even wait until Spyro was ready. He charged forward and stabbed one of his horns into his back. The horn dug deep and Spyro roared in pain. Spyro regained himself and shot his tail up into Firecurse's chest.

The ground around them began to turn red as the blood hit the ground.

"Coward," Spyro spat again, "You have no honor and never will."

"As long as I survive it's fine with me," Firecurse replied.

"Fine then the prize for the winner of this fight will be their life. You don't win you die," Spyro stated.

"Fine," Firecurse responded. He looked towards his next target Spyro's heart, but he stopped as he noticed the dented in scales in front of his heart. Firecurse smiled and said, "The scales in front of your heart are dented in. Must mean that you have no heart. How can you love Cynder without a heart?"

"No heart?" Spyro asked, "Well here's the blood from my heart to prove that I have one," Spyro digs one of his claws into his dented scales and red liquid began to trickle down his chest, "This dent is from the Dark Master when he was about to kill Cynder. I got in the way and it cracked my scales inwards."

"Sounds so noble," Firecurse mocked as he leapt forward again.

Spyro dodged the immediate attack, but fails to see Firecurse's tail thrust into his chest, just missing his heart. Spyro roared out and his eyes began to glow purple. Spyro showed his fangs and his scales began to turn black.

Firecurse stepped back, surprised at the sudden change.

Spyro laughed, but his voice was darker and more distorted, "I warned you and now you will die for your arrogance and blindness to real power."

Spyro charged up a blast of Convexity and fired it at Firecurse. Firecurse moved just in time and the blast exploded with a great force. Firecurse looked back at the explosion, but didn't notice Spyro who was in front of him. Firecurse bumped into him and moved back. Spyro punched him and appeared behind Firecurse, delivering another powerful punch. Firecurse tried to fend Spyro off, but nothing worked. After a minute of beating Firecurse down, Spyro grabbed him with a claw and lifted him into the air. Spyro stood on two legs as if he had done it all his life.

"Now Firecurse the Coward," Spyro announced with a smile, "You have failed and will pay fully."

Spyro sent Convexitial energies into Firecurse that overwhelmed his brain and started to eat away at the body from the inside out. Firecurse looked in horror at Spyro as he was dying, as if to plead to Spyro for forgiveness, but Spyro would have no such thing. The Convexity began to eat his scales away and beams of Convexity shot out in many directions. No one was struck though, except for Spyro who seemed to not notice as the purple energy crashed against him.

At last Firecurse was no more. Spyro seemed to return to normal, but passed out. Shadedulath ordered his men to get Spyro to a healer. A few men did so and Cynder followed, astounded that Spyro had done something so brutal and cold blooded.

After the healer had a look at Spyro Cynder asked, "How is he?"

"He is fine, but his mind is clouded and confused," the healer replied, "Let him sort it out and he will wake up soon."

Cynder thanked the man and looked at the one she loved.

"That would explain why he wasn't himself, but how did it happen so quickly?" Cynder thought, "Just come back Spyro."

Spyro wanted to be back as much as possible since he was in another encounter with Malefor.

"It is true Spyro," Malefor said, "You and Cynder will not last."

"No," Spyro yelled, "We will live through these dark times."

"I highly doubt that," Malefor said, "But that is not what I'm talking about."

"What?" asked Spyro who was confused.

"I meant that your relationship will not last," he said, "It will crumble slowly at first, but then will just collapse."

"No, no!" Spyro yelled, "You lie!"

"I don't care Spyro," Malefor said walking away from him, "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Spyro woke up and was breathing heavily. He looked around the room and saw Cynder. He smiled to her, but she returned with a weak smile.

"How are you doing?" she asked softly.

Spyro noticed that Cynder was sad and replied, "Ok, how about yourself?" She breathed deeply and hesitated. Spyro put a finger under her chin and lifted her chin so she could look into her eyes. "What's wrong Cynder?" he asked softly.

"You are," she answered as a tear ran down her cheek.

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked.

"What you did to Firecurse was so…so…barbaric and dark. I don't know why you did that," Cynder explained, "It's not like you at all."

"I had no control Cynder. I would have let him lived if Convexity didn't interfere. You know that I wouldn't kill someone like that when I'm normal or insane. This time it was much more powerful and…darker."

"Spyro I don't know what to think now," Cynder replied, "I still love you, but I'm scared of you and the power that seems to take over so easily. I need some time alone to think this out." She got up and left the room.

Spyro jumped to his feet and yelled, "Cynder! Cynder wait."

Cynder stopped and slowly turned around. Spyro ran up to her and said, "Encase something happens to me I want to let you know that I love more than anything and I would gladly give my life for you."

Tears started to run down Cynder's face and she turned away running off.

Spyro was then left alone. He closed his eyes and looked at the ground.

That night Spyro and Cynder slept away from each other for the first time in several years. Cynder was in room far from Spyro's as she thought about what she could do.

"Oh," Cynder thought, "I don't know what to do."

She continued to think about Spyro and soon became lonely. She wondered how Spyro was doing? She also truly wondered what happened to Spyro. She knew that the story that Spyro gave was probably the most probable, but what if that was something that his darker side planned? She continued for many hours with troubling thoughts and concluded since sleep began to take her.

"I can't give up on Spyro," she thought, "It would destroy him and there is always hope that he can be saved." With that thought she fell asleep.

Spyro was in no fair shape in his room. He missed Cynder and was struggling to stay awake, afraid that the Dark Master would bring more ill news and torture to him. But soon he was overtaken by sleep.

Spyro found himself in darkness and a great black dragon stood next to him.

"I told you that she would leave you Spyro," said the dragon, "She doesn't love you anymore. She is beginning to hate you for what you are becoming."

"No, no," Spyro said shaking his head, "She still loves me."

"Then why is she not sleeping next to you as she usually does?" asked the dragon.

"Because she was upset with what you did to me and Firecurse, Malefor," Spyro spat, adding venom to the Dark Master's name.

"Nevertheless, she still isn't coming back," Malefor mocked with a smile, "How could she love someone that is becoming the very thing she hated because she was enslaved to it. She won't remain with you. You are becoming to much like me and she sees it."

Spyro dug his claws into his head trying to ignore the Dark Master's words that cut through him like daggers.

"You will be the death of everyone," Malefor said as he left, "Do you know why?"

Spyro continued to grab his head trying with all his might now to withstand the Dark Master's words.

"Because my master has been over influencing you with Convexity," Malefor shared, "That is why you have been able to access Convexity so much. It also is the reason why you are losing yourself and changing to darkness."

"No, I won't serve the shadows, I was meant to fight them and defeat them," Spyro yelled.

"No, you were meant to fall to them and serve," Malefor said smiling.

Spyro woke up; his breathing was erratic and unsteady. He hated this. He couldn't do a thing to stop it either. One thought did come to his mind that could stop it though. I thought it was what was necessary. He would kill himself. That would end the Dark Master's torture, Cynder's pain that was caused by him, and the darkness that tried to take over. He first wrote out a letter to Cynder, hoping that she would forgive him for everything that he has done.

Cynder woke up and was shocked. She somehow was in Spyro's nightmare. She fully understood everything that was happening to him now.

"He was telling the truth," Cynder said to herself, "How could I have not believed him? Oh god I hope I'm not too late to fix this."

She got up and ran out of her room towards Spyro's room on the other side of the base.

Spyro had just finished and read it through once,

Dear Cynder,

I'm sorry for all of this and the pain that I have caused you. I have decided to take my life to save everyone else from my potential to destroy everything. Marthaeter is trying to overwhelm me with Convexity and I fear he is close to destroying my mind with it. I can't be allowed to live and must die. I'm sorry and I wish that I could just lived a normal life, but that is impossible and it will be the dream that I will never experience. I love you Cynder and that is why I'm doing this. I realized that I'm dangerous to everyone and especially to you. Seeing you earlier also made me realize that I was the source of your pain. I'm sorry you had to endure so much and I wish that we could have lived in a different way. I love you Cynder more than anything, but I must die and I wish that you would live a good life.

- Spyro

Spyro raised his tail and aimed the tail spike at the wound that Firecurse had inflected earlier that just missed his heart. If he was lucky he could pierce his heart and die quickly.

His golden tail spike was perfectly lined up and Spyro closed his eyes and whispered, "I love you Cynder."

The door to his room suddenly swung open and Spyro was about to thrust his tail when Cynder screamed, "Spyro don't do it!"

"I'm sorry Cynder, but I must," Spyro replied as tears ran down his face. He began the thrust that would end his life, but the tail stopped as it began to cut into the skin.

He opened his eyes to see Cynder who had her tail wrapped around his and held his tail back.

"Cynder let me die," Spyro pleaded, "That's all I deserve."

"No Spyro," Cynder shouted, "I'm not going to let you kill yourself!"

She tackled him and pinned him to the ground. Spyro tried to break free, but it was no use, Cynder held him down firmly.

A fresh wave of tears came from Spyro and he cried, "I can't even kill myself, I'm such a failure."

Cynder smacked him across the face and said, "Spyro you aren't a failure and you shouldn't take your own life."

"Why not?" Spyro asked, "Malefor was right about everything."

"No, he wasn't Spyro," Cynder said in a calmer voice, "I saw the nightmare you had tonight and Spyro everything he said was untrue. I still love you and want to be with you; I just had to straighten a few things out. Luckily I saw the nightmare and it made me realize that none of this is your fault."

She sat up and allowed Spyro to sit up as well.

He hugged her and cried, "Oh Cynder, I'm sorry for all of this. I have caused so much pain and so many problems for you. I don't deserve you. You are too great of a dragon for one so wrecked as myself."

Cynder pulled out of the embrace and smacked him again saying, "Spyro you deserve me because I gave you my love. If anything I should be the one unworthy of your love. I was a servant of Malefor and nearly killed you on several occasions, but you saved me. I should be the one who is unworthy of the love of the great purple dragon who has saved the Realms."

"I did it to keep you safe," Spyro replied.

"Thanks," Cynder replied, "I not sure what Malefor and Marthaeter have done to you, but I swear that I will always be there for you and I will help save you as you saved me, even if it costs my death."

"Thanks," Spyro said, "But that still doesn't fix the problems that I have caused you along with the pain."

Cynder held him close and whispered, "Spyro I don't care. As long as you are still with me and love me, it greatly outweighs any pain or problem you cause. I just want you with me because I love you Spyro, my purple dragon."

Spyro seemed to begin to cheer up at this and he whispered, "And as long as I have you I will always fight this darkness in me. Because I love you my beautiful black dragoness."

They both smiled at each other and looked into each other's eyes. They slowly leaned into each other and kissed. They held it for a minute and enjoyed every second of it. They broke and held each other close, showing their promise that they would remain in love with each other forever.

They finally broke away from each other and lay down to fall asleep. Cynder rested her head against Spyro's neck and wrapped her tail around his. She also placed one of her hands on his chest scales and saw the wounds he had taken earlier.

"Oh my god Spyro," Cynder said, "I'm so sorry I didn't even notice your wounds when you were talking to me. I can't believe it. I'm so selfish."

Spyro grabbed her hand and said, "It's ok. You were upset with what happened and I don't blame you for not noticing since we really didn't get much of a conversation in."

Cynder nodded and nuzzled his neck. "Thanks Spyro for everything," she said.

Spyro replied, "Well thanks for dealing with me so much."

Cynder laughed softly and said, "You're welcome."

She lifted her head to get a good night's kiss. They broke and she replaced her head on the side of his neck. She felt Spyro's heart beat warm and steadily.

She liked the feeling and was about to fall asleep when she whispered, "I love you Spyro."

"I love you too Cynder," Spyro returned.

"And if I find you tried to do anything tonight I will make sure you never think about it again. I have ways and I swear you will hate what I do," Cynder said.

"Goodnight," Spyro said warmly.

The next morning came and Cynder woke up before Spyro was awake and got up as carefully as she could so she didn't wake up Spyro. She was going to get something to eat, but stopped when she found a piece of paper by Spyro. She read it and it was the suicide note. Her eyes were wide with disbelieve that Spyro would actually say some of these things. She wrote a response at the bottom of the page and left it on Spyro's face so he couldn't miss it. She exited the room and went to find breakfast for both of them.

Spyro woke up sometime later and found a piece of paper on his face. He read it and it was the note he left for Cynder, but at the bottom Cynder had written something,

Spyro I want you to save this letter so you know that someone cares greatly about you no matter what happens. I'll always be with you and that will never change. I love you.

- Cynder

Spyro smiled at the last line, but realized that what he had done last night was terrible and frightened Cynder greatly. He felt ashamed that he would even attempt something like that.

Cynder came in with a pair of fish and gave one to Spyro. She sat down next to him and they ate. They finished the fish fairly quickly and then relaxed. Cynder laid her head on Spyro's shoulder and Spyro wrapped a wing around Cynder.

"Cynder I want to thank you again for stopping me last night," Spyro said with shame, "I…I just didn't know what to do."

Cynder picked up her head and replied, "Just don't do that ever again. I love you too much to lose you."

He smiled and she gave him a kiss, "You're my purple dragon and no one else's."

"Thanks," Spyro replied.

Shadedulath had ordered the evacuation of the base due to the increased activity in the Shadow Vale. They were heading to the Celestial Caves in the White Isles. As Shadedulath put it, hopefully the Lord of the Temple of Time could help them in this conflict.

Spyro had his doubts since the last time Spyro asked the Chronicler what was to happen to everyone else and he replied that they were doomed. Why would the Chronicler now decide to help if a more powerful foe threatened the Realms?

Shadedulath planned to leave tomorrow since it would be a two-week journey at least to get to the coast and then they would have to find enough boats to get everyone across the sea to the White Isles.

Spyro and Cynder did nothing that whole day. They simply remained in their room enjoying each other's company, which was much needed after the events of the previous night.

Night came quickly though and the two dragons left the interior of the base and sat on one of the high walls in the center of the base. From there they looked up into the night sky and admired the moon and stars.

"It's beautiful," Cynder said.

"You can say that again," Spyro replied.

"This was a good idea Spyro," Cynder said, "Thank you for bring me out here."

"You're welcome," Spyro said, "I always enjoy looking at the night sky and I enjoy being with you so I just put both together."

Cynder gave him a kiss and said, "You're too sweet."

Spyro laughed lightly and wrapped a wing around her. She rested her head on his shoulder while looking up at the great cosmos above.

"Do you think Shade's plan will work?" asked Cynder.

"No," Spyro replied.

"Why not?" asked Cynder.

"Because back during the Night of Eternal Darkness he wasn't willing to save anyone else besides me," Spyro explained, "Why would he help us now when a great threat is coming?"

"Because there is hope that his power may assist in defeating it?" Cynder suggested.

"I doubt it," Spyro replied, "He told me that he feared the worst for the others and that I was just suppose to let you become a slave to Malefor. I know he was saying that for my safety, but I couldn't risk losing you."

"Thanks for coming after me," Cynder said licking his cheek.

"You're welcome," Spyro replied.

They remained there for the night and rested until morning's light came.


	6. Chapter 6: The Temple of Time

**Sorry for not updating last week. I worked all weekend. Thank God though for the snow day today. I'm glad the Chicago land area is under more than a half a foot of snow. So yeah, here is the next chapter. It's short sorry, but whatever. Merry Christmas if I don't get to update before then. Please R&R. **

**Chapter 6: The Temple of Time**

About a month had passed and a fleet of ships were nearing their destination, the White Isles. Spyro and Cynder looked from the deck of the ship watching the islands grow closer. Spyro directed the ship to the island that he remembered from the Night of Eternal Darkness. Once there the ships began offloading the people and supplies into smaller boats that headed to shore.

Spyro, Cynder, Shadedulath, Walker, and a small group of veteran Shadows began exploring the island, following Spyro as he remembered his way through the ruins, avoiding traps, enemies, and the elemental caves. They eventually came to the elemental caves' entrances.

Spyro stopped and looked at the caves' entrances. They were closed. Spyro looked down in the small depression in the center of the chamber. The blue teleportation pad glowed with energy and Spyro jumped down onto it. Spyro motioned for them to join him. They did so and white energy particles surrounded them until a flash of white blinded them. When the light faded they were on a crystal platform surrounded by space.

A female voice sounded, "He who solely defeated the dark has returned with friends and love one."

A white light appeared on the platform and transformed into what Spyro feared most. Cynder's evil form.

Spyro charged forward and blasted the elemental dragon with fire. The flames damaged it and it roared swiping its tail at Spyro. The color of the dragon changed to green and Cynder charged in clawing at the great elemental beast.

Shadedulath and his men watched in confusion and wondered why the dragons were fighting the larger one.

The dragon turned yellow and Spyro cast an arc of lightning at the dragon, stunning it for only a moment. Cynder avoiding being hit by the large dragon and moved in for a close range attack against the beast. Spyro held his current until the dragon turned red again. Both Spyro and Cynder then used their fire to torch the dragon. The dragon reared back and swiped its great wings in front of itself, knocking both Spyro and Cynder back.

At that point three arrows struck the elemental dragon. It turned its head towards its attacker and found three Shadows of Katsumoto with bows in hand and two others with their katana in hand. Shadedulath and Walker both had their weapons out as well. The dragon charged them and they scattered.

The dragon followed Walker who ran to the right of it. The dragon swung its great tail and turned green. Walker dived over the tail and swung a bladed whip at its tail. The whip's blades dug in and stopped the dragon's tail. Walker spun, swinging his second whip at the elemental beast's long neck. The beast roared in pain and flailed wildly, but Walker held firm. Shadedulath came up and swung his blades cutting into the sides of the beast. Several more arrows entered the dragon's side causing more pain.

The elemental dragon knocked them aside and Spyro and Cynder charged in. Spyro fired an earth shot, knocking the dragon back. It swung its long tail at Spyro who dodged it, but Cynder wasn't as lucky. She was hit on her head by the tail, falling unconscious onto the crystal surface.

"Cynder!" Spyro shouted.

He ran over to her and knelt next to her. The great elemental got back up and charged at Spyro. Spyro slowly turned towards his opponent and thrust his horn up into the larger dragon's chest. The beast cried out with a loud roar and fell on top of Spyro. Shadedulath, Walker, and the others ran over to them.

Spyro has pulling himself out from underneath the dragon and dragged himself to Cynder. He knew he had broken several things while under the weight of the great elemental dragon, but he cared not. He only cared about making sure Cynder was ok.

Her breathing was normal and she was still warm with life, which relieved Spyro. He nuzzled her, whispering her name as well. He got a small reaction and licked her cheek, whispering her name again a little louder. She moved her head and slowly opened her eyes.

He licked her cheek again and she smiled.

"How you doing?" Spyro asked.

"Ok," Cynder replied, "And you my purple boy?"

Spyro smiled like he had done something wrong and Cynder's smile faded into a look of concern asking, "Spyro are you ok?"

"Somewhat," Spyro answered.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Spyro answered, "I beat the dragon, it fell on me, I pulled myself out, and was too occupied to care about my injuries until I found out if you were ok. I probably have a broken bone or two."

"Aw," Cynder said, "You are sweet," she kissed him, "Well you need to be taken care of obviously."

"Like the other time?" Spyro asked unsure at what she was getting at, "No not until you get better."

Cynder helped Spyro up and she supported him as he hopped along on his two left legs that weren't broken.

Shadedulath looked around and asked, "How do we get out of here?"

As if asking that question was the key, white light particles gathered to them and teleported them.

They appeared in a large room with two large wooden doors. The doors opened and Spyro and Cynder led the way inside. Shadedulath and his men followed them and found a massive hourglass in the middle of the room. Ancient stone shelves lined the walls, which were filled with books.

A large grey dragon came around the hourglass and looked at his guests. The three bowmen notched an arrow and drew it back ready to fire.

Shadedulath noticed and shouted, "Don't shoot!"

One arrow though escaped and flew towards the ancient dragon. The arrow stopped a couple inches from his chest.

The arrow fell to the ground and the grey dragon smiled, "Don't worry. For I will not harm you humans, if you are friends of Spyro then you are welcome here."

Shadedulath bowed low and said, "Thank you Lord of Time."

"No need to bow Shadedulath Katsumotoson," the Chronicler said.

"Katsumotoson?" asked Walker who was confused.

"Yes," the Chronicler replied, "Shadedulath was chosen by Katsumoto to succeed him and therefore Shadedulath inherits the name of Katsumoto," the Chronicler turned to Spyro and asked, "What in the realms happened to you young dragon, you look terrible."

"I beat your dragon spirit again, which nearly flattened me," Spyro replied.

"I see," the Chronicler said, "And you must be Cynder. I have to say I'm surprised that you are in good shape seeing how Spyro is."

"He was protecting me," Cynder replied nicely.

"And I'm not surprised about that at all," the ancient dragon responded, "He had shown a great deal of concern for you when we last met."

Spyro looked down and blushed.

Cynder turned and looked at him. She licked him on the cheek and said, "You were crazy about me that long ago?"

"Yeah," Spyro slowly replied.

"Well I was crazy about you back then also," she returned.

"Well might I ask why you are here?" the Chronicler asked.

Shadedulath stepped forward and said, "We have come to seek assistance from you, if you are willing to of course."

"From Marthaeter?" the Chronicler asked, "You and your forces are unable to hold them back?"

Shadedulath nodded. The Chronicler looked into the hourglass as if he was being given help from someone on a great plane.

He turned back to Shadedulath after a minute and said, "As much as I wish not to. I realize that my forces are required to keep the realm out of darkness. I give you my protectors. They will obey you and will do their job well."

"Thank you, great Lord of Time," Shadedulath said bowing.

"You are welcome young Shadedulath," the Chronicler replied, "I trust your abilities. You all may stay here until all of my protectors arrive from their various locations."

"Who long will it take?" asked Spyro.

"About two weeks," the grey dragon responded.


	7. Chapter 7: The War Has Begun

**Here's the next chapter. A good part is Spyro trying to make inner peace with himself. It does get detailed only because I have used this method to make peace with my past, which I'm not proud of. The drifting into other plains never happened, but it would be sweet to have that happen. Any bold print is Marthaeter speaking, just wanted to clear up any confusion that may occur. Enjoy. R&R please.**

Chapter 7: The War Has Begun

A week had passed and Spyro was learning the powers that the Chronicler was teaching him.

"Clear your mind Spyro," the Chronicler said, "Now think about orb of energy in front of you. Command it with your mind. Make it move."

Spyro had his eyes shut and was concentrating. The orb twitched and rolled off its base. After a few seconds of it rolling it stopped. Spyro tried again to move it, but nothing happened. Spyro tried one last time and the orb floated in the air, an inch above the ground.

"Good," the Chronicler praised, "Now go and mediate until you have become part of a different plane."

"What?" Spyro asked.

"You will find out when you achieve it," the Chronicler said with a smile.

Spyro left and flew to a small island alcove right next to the Temple of Time. He sat down and closed his eyes, clearing his mind. He mediated and found himself drifting through all that he has done. Playing with Sparx when he was younger, breathing fire, meeting Ignitus, freeing Cynder, the Night of Eternal Darkness, defeating the Dark Master, Sparx' death, meeting Shadedulath, losing himself to Convexity, and being with Cynder.

He was forced to stop because of the flood of different emotions. He returned to the Chronicler and told him that he couldn't concentrate.

"Why not, young dragon?" he asked.

"I saw my past all at once and it overwhelmed me," Spyro explained.

"That is what you master before you can drift into other planes with your mind," the Chronicler replied, "You must master your emotions. Go and relax we will continue tomorrow."

"Thank you," Spyro said as he left.

Cynder entered Spyro and her room and saw Spyro mediating. She quietly exited and allowed him to finish. She stopped as she heard him say something. She listened more closely.

"No, no, not again," Spyro said, "I want to stop this."

She saw him begin to cry and she ran over to him. She held him close and whispered, "Spyro I'm here, what's wrong?"

"My past it won't leave," Spyro cried, "It continues to torture me. I don't want to see it."

"_Oh, but you do,"_ the Dark Master said in his mind.

"No get out!" he shouted, "I hate you. Get out of my head and leave me alone."

"_I can not leave,"_ the Dark Master explained, _"Ever since the Night of Eternal Darkness I have been in your mind."_

"I didn't wish for any of this," Spyro shouted, "I didn't want this power. I didn't want to be in these wars, I didn't want to be a hero! I want a normal life!"

"_You didn't want Cynder then either?"_ the Dark Master questioned.

"Of course not," Spyro yelled in rage, "I love her. Nothing you can do will stop me from loving her and you wouldn't be able to harm her or take her away!"

"_You said that you and her will never have a normal life,"_ he laughed, _"You both will be scarred from these times."_

"Get out!" Spyro desperately shouted.

Cynder knew this was going too far so she stepped in. "Shhh. Spyro I have you," Cynder said comfortingly, "I love you, just talk to me, ignore him. He speaks of only lies and darkness. Talk to me, telling how much you love me."

"Cynder…I…can't stop him," Spyro whispered.

She locked lips with him and he seemed to calm down. She broke and he hugged her, "Thank you Cynder, thank you."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I was mediating and my memories flooded my mind and I couldn't control them all. He then came in and I was so angry and then…you saved me," Spyro softly said.

"I'll always be here for you my love," Cynder reassured, "And I will always love you no matter what happens."

"Thank you," Spyro said starting to regain control of his emotions, "Cynder how do you get rid of these memories?"

"What memories?" asked Cynder hoping she could help.

"The bad ones that haunt you," Spyro replied, "The ones that make you feel helpless and weak, knowing that you could have stopped it somehow."

Cynder rested her head on his and whispered, "You can't really. I have so many of those. I just think of the happier times when I remember those thoughts. Like the time I spend with you."

Spyro nodded and whispered, "I love you Cynder, forever."

"I love you too forever," Cynder responded.

The next day Spyro tried mediating again. He approached it with a different mind frame. He decided to embrace the memories, he merely was a spectator not the writer of the past.

All of the memories flooded his mind, but he remained unaffected. He simply watched the different events pass by. After the memories ceased there was nothing but stillness. His mind was blank. He was about to open his eyes when he saw a faint light that slowly grew brighter. It was the only source of light, which gave Spyro hope. The light continued to grow and Spyro began to see more than just the light, but other unusual objects. Large clouds of every color floated past him and soon there were massive spheres that seemed to move around the light that he saw. He finally realized that he was looking at a star.

"This most be a different world or something," he said, "Those spheres most be planets. So this is what the Chronicler meant."

He continued, intrigued by this fascinating place. He took in everything that he could. The entire area was beautiful and it made him wonder how he could reach this place. He thought that he had seen enough and retreated to his mind.

He opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he had just seen. He went to find the Chronicler to share what he had seen.

Spyro entered the Hall of Time where the giant hourglass and part of the library was. He didn't find the Chronicler anywhere.

He proceeded to the rear of the room where a door lay. It was slightly open and when Spyro approached a voice said, "Come in young dragon."

Spyro entered into the dark room and found the Chronicler sitting in the middle of the room.

"Come sit Spyro," the Chronicler said, "I have a feeling you have become one of all realms?"

"I believe so Chronicler," Spyro replied, "I'm unsure though."

"Did you mediation turn into this?" the Chronicler asked.

The room changed and a small sun appeared in front of them surrounded by clouds of many colors and planets.

"Yes!" Spyro said excitedly, "That is exactly what I saw."

"Then you have mastered the ability to control your own mind," the Chronicler said, "Now you must learn to block foreign invaders from your mind."

"And how do I do that?" asked Spyro.

"Concentrate on what you love the most and hold onto it," the Chronicler instructed, "Remember that if you fail, you lose what is most important to you."

Spyro prepared to defend himself. He had just got his defense ready when the Chronicler invaded his mind. The Chronicler drilled deep into Spyro's mind sifting through thoughts, memories, and ideas. Spyro countered the Chronicler's attack before he entered memories that were too personal for anyone to know, but him and Cynder.

He forced the Chronicler back with unmatched force, which caused the Chronicler to physically fall to the floor.

Spyro opened his eyes once the attack faded and he saw the ancient dragon recovering from his mental strike.

"I'm sorry," Spyro stammered, "I…I didn't mean to."

"It's fine Spyro," the Chronicler returned, "I had no idea that you had such strength. You should be able to protect yourself from any enemy."

"Is that all you need of me?" Spyro asked.

"Yes," the Chronicler said, "I'm assuming that you wish to be with Cynder?"

"Yes," Spyro replied.

"I will make sure that you are not disturbed then by anyone," the Chronicler stated.

"Thank you," Spyro responded.

Spyro met up with Cynder a half hour later. They walked around the island to find a suitable location to relax. They couldn't find a spot so they went back inside and went to their room. Once there they settled on their bed and curled up next to each other.

Cynder nuzzled her snout into the side of Spyro's neck. Spyro growled gently tell her that he liked her be so close. He ran his tail spike along her tail and she purred.

"I love you," she whispered warmly.

"I love you too," Spyro whispered back with the same tone.

"So how was your training today?" Cynder asked.

"Better," Spyro replied, "I overcame my memories and became part of a different reality. It was dark, but it had a star and planets like ours going around the sun. It was amazing."

Cynder purred more loudly as she enjoyed Spyro's tail that continued to run up and down her tail.

"Although, nothing compared to how amazing you are," Spyro whispered.

Cynder opened an eye and looked at Spyro who was smiling at her. She returned the smile and reached up with her head a licked Spyro on the cheek. "As are you," Cynder replied.

"Thank you," Spyro said as he laid his head on her forehead.

Cynder smiled and repositioned her head comfortably against Spyro's neck. She began to lick it and felt Spyro twitch. She continued to lick his neck until Spyro tickled her sides. She yelped in surprise and swatted at his arms. He only laughed and Cynder soon joined him in his laughter.

When their laughter died down they looked into each other's eyes and held the gaze for several minutes. They enjoyed looking into their mate's eyes. The eyes of one another said so much and they took it all in. They finally broke the gaze as they kissed. They broke and Cynder replaced her head against Spyro's neck and Spyro placed his head on Cynder's forehead and there they fell asleep.

About an hour into Spyro's rest, he was disturbed by a familiar entity.

"_Spyro,"_ the voice said.

Spyro ignored it.

"**Spyro,"** it said with a dark tone.

"Go away Malefor," Spyro replied, "I'm not interested in your lies."

"_Oh, but this time I bringing tidings of the future,"_ Malefor said with a smile.

"Fine," Spyro said.

"_Marthaeter has found out that you can resist his influence,"_ Malefor explained, _"He will now force more Convexitial energy into you to counter this new power of yours."_

"He won't succeed," Spyro plainly said, "I'll kill him first."

"_So you think,"_ Malefor laughed.

"Leave me!" Spyro shouted.

"_Why?"_ Malefor asked, _"I like to irritate you, especially after you killed me."_

Spyro threw up his mental defense and threw the Dark Master out of his mind.

He woke up and looked around the room. Cynder was staring at him with worry written all over her face.

"Spyro are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Spyro replied, "The Dark Master stopped by and kicked him out."

"I heard," Cynder said, "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing, just more lies," Spyro responded.

He tried to fall back asleep, but Cynder stopped him and asked, "Spyro seriously what did he tell you? You need to tell me."

He sighed, "He said that because I have found a way to prevent Convexity's control over me, Marthaeter is going to try to continue to over influence me to counter my new ability. I hope I can hold out."

"You will Spyro and if you can't then I'm here to help you," Cynder replied nuzzling him, "I love you."

"I love you too Cynder," Spyro replied.

They fell back asleep quickly in each other's arms.

A few days passed and Shadedulath was preparing to leave the White Isles with all his forces. The Chronicler advised him to wait until the end of the week since Marthaeter was going to send forces to the White Isles.

"Why should we wait we can defeat them at sea before they even come close to these sacred islands," Shadedulath argued.

"No, the fleet that he will send will be destroyed by a terrible storm that will come in two days," the Chronicler explained, "But that is not the only thing that will happen that night I fear."

"What do you mean, Lord of Time?" Shadedulath asked.

"A darkness is on the horizon and I fear that it is stronger then Marthaeter," the ancient dragon replied.

"Let us pray then for the best," the black robed human said.

Two nights later Spyro was disturbed in his sleep as he felt a sudden surge of energy. He carefully got up without waking Cynder and left the room. He walked outside of the Temple of Time and looked at the sky. It was dark and gloomy. Exactly what his heart felt like.

Cynder woke up noticing that Spyro was gone.

"Oh no," she said to herself, "This can't be good."

She sprinted out of the room to find Spyro. She came to the exit and just saw Spyro take off.

"Where are you going?" she whispered. She jumped into the air and followed him.

Both dragons failed to notice though the shadowy figure off to the right a thousand feet. He watched them fly and jumped from ruin to ruin that surround the island, following the dragons.

Spyro landed on a small alcove island that he had used several days earlier for meditation. He looked around the small island, nothing but rock. He tapped into Convexity, turning his scales black and eyes glowing dark purple. He fired a beam of Convexity out towards the vast expanse of water, letting out all his energy.

Cynder landed and saw the power of Convexity being used.

"_No,"_ she thought, _"Spyro."_

Once she landed Spyro ceased the beam and turned towards her saying, **"Cynder. You won't be able to free him this time."**

"Who are you and what did you do to him?" Cynder yelled.

"**I'm Marthaeter and I simply gave him more power,"** he said through Spyro.

"Give him back," Cynder demanded, "He only wants to live a normal life in peace."

"**I can't allow that though,"** Marthaeter replied, **"He can destroy my forces at his will and can challenge me. Though I would kill him, I would rather not lose my forces to such a pest."**

"He will destroy you," Cynder growled, "Once I free him."

"**Try all you want,"** he said, **"I'll not interfere."**

Cynder took a step forward towards Spyro, but stopped when Spyro roared. She took another step, which sounded a growl from Spyro. She refused to back down and continued to advance towards him. She was ten feet away when she dared to speak.

She gently asked, "Spyro? Are you still there my love?"

Spyro seemed to remember the name, but continued to hold his defensive stance.

"Spyro," Cynder said a little louder, "It's me Cynder, your black dragoness."

A deep and greatly distorted voice asked, "Who?"

"Cynder," she replied, "The dragon that you love, the dragon that has been sleeping by your side for four years, the dragon that has helped you through all the hard times."

"Cyn…Cyn…der?" Spyro spoke still possessing the deep demonical voice.

"Yes," Cynder said, "Remember back at the temple when you held me in your arms, sleeping on the balcony? Remember the time you killed the Dark Master and rescued me? Remember our first kiss?"

Spyro's eyes glowed whiter and his scales lessen in its shade of darkness. Spyro seemed to study her now with his lifeless eyes as if trying to remember something from the distant past, remembering a precious memory that has long been stored in the vaults on his mind.

"Cynder…" Spyro slowly said, "My…love…my…life."

"Yes Spyro, it's me!" Cynder shouted in victory. She ran up and embraced him.

His scales faded more and his eyes glowed less. He slowly returned the embrace, still fighting off the powers that had controlled him moments ago.

He pulled her close and placed a hand behind her head and stroked her head whispering, "Cynder, Cynder, Cynder."

"Yes Spyro," she returned, "I'm here. Remember my promise. I will never leave you."

"Cynder I'm sorry," Spyro slowly whispered.

"No, it's ok Spyro," she replied, "I have you back. That's all that matters."

"But…for how long?" Spyro questioned.

"Forever," Cynder said.

"Cynder…I can't…keep this up," Spyro cried. Tears began to roll from the white light that was his eyes, "I'm being ripped apart. This constant battle between my powers and me is tearing my soul in two. I can't take it any longer."

"I understand," Cynder sadly said, "I know what to do."

"What?" he asked.

"Kill me and then kill yourself," Cynder explained calmly, "We both can then be together forever without this evil."

"Cynder I can't do it," Spyro argued.

"Spyro you need to do it," Cynder said, "For both of us."

"I…I…can't!" he shouted. His scaled darkened and his eyes grew brighter. He fired a beam of Convexity at the water. The water exploded and Spyro fired again and again.

Cynder stops him and turns him around, "Spyro, do it for me."

"I can't intentionally harm you," Spyro roared.

"Please Spyro," she begged.

Spyro grabbed his head with his claws and dug them into his skull making him bleed. He roared again and began to gather power for his Convexity Fury.

The shadowy figure sprinted forward and grabbed Cynder. She fought to escape the figure, but he held tight and took cover on a ledge on the side of the small cliff that was part of the island wall.

Spyro roared one last time and the sound of Convexity energy overtook the sound of the roar. A loud humming and crackling noise grew larger as the purple energy flowed above the figure and Cynder.

The noise stopped and Cynder got out of the figure's hold. She jumped up to the edge of the cliff and ran to Spyro who was on the floor not moving.

"Hold on Spyro," Cynder whispered, "I'm coming for you."

She raised her tail blade to her neck and was about to pull it across her throat when the shadowy figure said, "He's not dead."

"How do you know?" Cynder asked.

"I can see the dust in front of his mouth moving away from him," the figure pointed out.

Cynder looked down and sure enough the dust was moving away from the purple dragon as he exhaled.

"Who are you?" Cynder asked, "Tell me!"

The figure lowered his hood to reveal Shadedulath's face, "I'm sorry Cynder. I thought you would have known it was me."

"How did you find us?" she asked.

"I was watching the weather when I noticed both of you flying away from the island," he answered, "Let's bring him back to your room."

"Ok," Cynder replied.


	8. Chapter 8: The War of the Mind

**Know there are a few similarities between this story and Secrets of Convexity. I revised this chapter so it wasn't as similar, but didn't throw off the storyline at all. I would also like to see more reviews this time since I got two reviews total for chapter 7. I'm not sure if it is because its winter break and no one is around or if this story is beginning to suck. Please R&R so I know if I should continue or not.**

Chapter 8: The War of the Mind

Spyro woke up a few hours later and no one was in the room. He let his mind expand and heard talking in the Hall of Time. He knew that the Chronicler, Shadedulath, and Cynder were talking about what had just taken place.

He opened the door and quietly left the room heading outside.

"I feared something like this would happen," the old, grey dragon said, "Marthaeter has greater control over Spyro than I thought."

"What can be done to help him?" asked Cynder.

"Nothing, but Marthaeter's death," the Chronicler replied, "And for that to happen we need Spyro to kill him."

Cynder looked down in disappointment. "Cynder there still may be hope," Shadedulath quickly interjected, "Lord of Time is there anything that we can do for him at the moment?"

"Cynder," the Chronicler said, "You must show him how much he means to you now. It will help him remain strong against the evil that seeks to control him. Shadedulath you can spend time and build up his confidence. Besides that there is nothing we can do."

They ended the discussion and Cynder went back to the room to be with Spyro. She got in there and the room was empty. She looked around and realized that the door was open when she entered. She sprinted back out the door in search of Spyro.

"Spyro where are you now?" she asked as she searched.

Spyro landed on the island that he was just at a few hours earlier. He walked to the edge of the cliff and looked out onto the horizon.

Cynder arrived a minute later and she called his name. When he didn't respond she yelled, "Spyro, don't do this again."

Spyro turned his head quickly and looked at Cynder and said, "It's just me this time."

"Spyro what are doing out here?" Cynder asked, "You should be get your rest."

"I needed to think for a minute," Spyro replied.

"About?" Cynder questioned softly.

"What I can do to stop this," Spyro answered.

"And have you found anything?" she asked with hope.

"Yes," Spyro whispered as he hugged her, "I'm leaving to go into the uninhabited regions of the realm to fight off Marthaeter without endangering anyone who is close to me."

"No Spyro," Cynder pleaded, "Don't go. There are other ways."

"Like what Cynder?" Spyro asked. Cynder remained silent, knowing that he had caught her bluffing. "I'm sorry Cynder, but I will return when I feel it's safe."

He held her closer as she began to cry on his shoulder, "I don't want you to go."

"I don't either," Spyro whispered, "But I need to. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can after I kill Marthaeter."

"Ok," Cynder replied.

They shared a kiss and held each other for another minute before Spyro left, flying off into the horizon. Tears flowed again from Cynder's eyes and she watched until she couldn't see the purple sparkle in the sky anymore.

She waited for another hour hoping that he would return, but he didn't. She reluctantly turned away and went inside to her room where she fell asleep alone and cold.

Despite the blankets that she had gathered she still felt the cold feeling of loneness. Spyro was the one who had kept her warm, but with him gone, she felt the coldness of the world swarm in. She felt feelings that she hadn't felt since she was under Malefor's control. She didn't like it and tried to ignore it. She thought about her love and prayed that everything would be all right. She hoped most of all that he would return swiftly.

Spyro had been flying for hours. His wings hurt and he required a good rest. A range of mountains was straight ahead of him about a twenty-minute flight away. He landed on a mountain that was in the center of the range to avoid detection. The mountains seemed to be a cage that bound him to this mountain. He liked the idea for the time and found a suitable cave about three quarters up the mountain.

He looked out at the dark storm clouds that were coming in from the west. He was thankful that he had found shelter. He went about twenty feet into his new home and fell asleep.

Rain fell from the clouds in thick blankets. Lakes appeared in the valleys of the mountains while lightning flashed through the sky. A flash illuminated the cave, which Spyro was sleeping in and loud thunder soon followed. Spyro awoken when the thunder rumbled through the narrow cave. He looked around and saw that it had begun to downpour and sighed.

He never liked the rain, but Cynder did. The only problem was that Cynder wasn't here and that gave Spyro no point in enjoying the water that fell from the heavens. He turned around and found himself looking straight into the eyes of a lug fur covered animal. Spyro had no idea what this creature was, but knew it wasn't friendly.

He leapt back as a large claw was swung at him. Spyro fired a stream of ice onto the claw of the creature, freezing it to the ground. The creature tried to free its claw, but found it to be hopeless. The creature took its other claw and broke off the frozen part of the claw. With both weapons available it charged Spyro. Spyro moved back to the edge of the cliff and jumped at the last second. The creature leapt to catch Spyro, but was too slow and fell down to the valley floor about two thousand feet below.

Spyro exhaled deeply and entered his cave to escape the rain. He shook himself off and lay down to sleep again. The rain continued to pound down on the land around him, He found himself drift into sleep. "Cynder," he whispered.

Cynder lay beneath the mountain of blankets she had, trying to sleep, but with no avail. It had been only five hours since he left, but to her it felt like years had passed. She focused on the good times she had with Spyro and slowly came to rest with pleasant thoughts whispering "Spyro."

The night passed like a storm over the mountains and Spyro woke up to a beautiful valley below his new home. He landed in the valley and took a drink from the pond that gathered near the southern edge. He finished his drink and looked at his reflection. He stared long and hard at himself, not pleased with what he saw. His scales were a darker purple than the typical bright purple of his youth. The one thing that he hated was the scare that ran across the left side of his face. It made him look darker and less of the caring dragon he was. What bothered him the most were his eyes. They took the same color of his scales and lacked the warmth and life that he once possessed.

"How could Cynder love me when I'm like this?" he questioned, "I'm not what I was back then." He sat for some time staring into the reflection when he thought of an idea. "I'll use the Chronicler's training to help me return to what I was before," he thought, "I will return to Cynder a new dragon."

He turned away from the pool and found a spot under a large tree. He sat down and began to shift through his thoughts, hoping that he would find something that would help. He made a quick run through of his life and found nothing. He decided to run through it again, but he would look deeper into what was happening. He did so and found very little that would help, but it sparked hope for him and he repeated this process for sometime until the sun was nearly setting.

"What!?" shouted Shadedulath, "He just left after what happened?"

Cynder nodded trying not to break into tears like she did last night.

The Chronicler spoke saying, "It is good that he left."

"How is that good?" Shadedulath exclaimed.

"If Spyro stayed here under my power he would not be able to see if he would be able to survive on his own," the grey dragon answered, "It is good that he is willing to test himself. I'll watch over and minimally assist him."

Cynder couldn't help but let a tear fall from her eye. The Chronicler noticed and said, "Come young dragon, he will be alright. He is far more talented and stronger than we all thought. He is the one to save us all."

"But how can you be sure that he will be alright," Cynder questioned.

"He will hold onto you for support in his trails," the ancient time keeper replied, "You are the one who will ultimately save him from the darkness within himself as he did for you. You will return the favor to safe his life."

Cynder closed her eyes and looked at the ground. She took a deep breath and left the room leaving Shadedulath, Walker, and the Chronicler.

They all looked at each other wondering what to do now. Shadedulath looked back to Walker and nodded. He shifted his gaze to the Chronicler and said, "We will leave you and train our new warriors."

"So be it," the dragon said getting up.

The two bowed and left to train for the upcoming war.

Night came to Spyro's home and he dreaded it. This was the time when the Dark Master came to torment him. Spyro knew how to drive him away, but it prevented him from dreaming of Cynder. Spyro knew he had to confront the Dark Master to wipe him from his mind and now was the perfect time, when he was determined to change and overcome all to be with Cynder again. He laid and waited for that demon to knock on the door of his mind. Spyro would then open it and give him one hell of a surprise.

Cynder couldn't take it. It had been a full day and she hadn't seen Spyro. She needed him. She loved to talk to him, be in his arms, seeing his smile, embracing him, sleeping next to him, and kissing him. She was going crazy due to the lack of his presence.

"Spyro come home soon," Cynder whispered.

The Dark Master entered Spyro's mind and whispered, _"Spyro I have returned."_

Spyro woke up and opened his mind to him slowly.

The Dark Master's essence entered and said, _"Thank you. Now I have come to tell you that Marthaeter is sending all forces out to destroy the realm."_

"How long until his forces enter the realm," Spyro asked.

"_Three weeks,"_ the Dark Master smiled, _"There is nothing that you can do. Your friends don't nearly have the forces to hold back Marthaeter's hordes."_

Spyro grew irritated of this and decided that he should destroy the Dark Master once and for all.

"Thank you for the warning, but I'll defeat the horde myself if need be," Spyro replied sternly.

The Dark Master broke out in laughter, _"You wish you would be able to defeat a hundred of these creatures that Marthaeter sends. He doesn't just send shadow spawn, shadowlings, and zeks, but fierce dragons, raging demons, and angry spirits. You have no chance."_

"Neither do you," Spyro pointed out as he began the process of eliminating the Dark Master.

"_What, NO!"_ the Dark Master screamed as he was shredded to bits from Spyro's mind.

Spyro had used the massive amount of Convexity within himself to enter his mind, destroying anything that wasn't friendly. He would have to thank Marthaeter whenever he saw him, but he hoped that wouldn't be for some time.

The Convexitial energy finished its job and left Spyro. He immediately felt a great burden lift from his mind. He fell asleep and dreamed of Cynder.

The Chronicler touched Spyro's mind and said, _"Well done young dragon you have freed yourself."_

"_Not completely,"_ he returned through the mental link.

"_Let your mind drift Spyro and I'll help with that,"_ the Chronicler's voice said.

Spyro rested his mind and left his body heading to the realm that he would never expect to see again.

Soft blue colored space surrounded him with several stars and a couple planets. They were far off, but still beautiful. The ruins of ancient temples and buildings lay waste across the stone platforms.

The Chronicler's voice returned saying, _"Head for the temple and I'll help you with the last problem you have."_

Spyro took flight and landed at the ruined temple a minute later. He saw something move inside and he ran into see what it was. What he saw shocked him.

A grand grey dragon that was young in age with many instruments and scrolls in his pouches. A short grey haired beard sat on the dragon's chin and two horns that curled in towards his head.

"Chronicler?" Spyro asked.

"Yes, it is I Spyro," the Chronicler answered, "Or the one I was many centuries ago."

The shape of the Chronicler shifted into the present form of the ancient grey dragon.

"I must tell you one thing before you are ready to fight Marthaeter," the Chronicler said, "Never lose hope and always remember those who are closest to you. They will give you the courage and hope needed to pass all tests in life."

"Thank you," Spyro said.

The Chronicler vanished, but his voice said, _"Look into the pool and think what you want Cynder to hear."_

Spyro thought, _"Cynder."_

The frightened voice of Cynder asked, "Hello? Who is that?"

"_Cynder it's Spyro,"_ Spyro telepathically exclaimed.

"Spyro?" Cynder returned the call, "Is that really you?"

"_Yes baby it is me,"_ Spyro cried, _"I'm glad to hear your voice again."_

"As am I," Cynder replied, "When are you coming back? Nothing is the same without you love."

"_Soon,"_ Spyro replied, _"I have cast the Dark Master out forever and I'm going to confront Marthaeter in two days."_

"No, Spyro, don't go alone against him," Cynder begged, "Let me help you with this."

"_I'm sorry Cynder, but this is something I have to do on my own,"_ Spyro said, _"I'm sorry."_

Cynder began to cry saying, "I just don't want to lose you."

"_You won't,"_ Spyro quickly assured her.

"You promise," Cynder asked.

"_With my life,"_ Spyro replied.

"Stay safe and come home soon," Cynder said, "I miss you."

"_I miss you too,"_ Spyro stated, _"I love you baby."_

"I love you too dear," Cynder returned.

With that farewell Spyro withdrew slowly from the connection and was standing alone in the ruined temple of ancient times. His mind slowly slipped from the realm the Chronicler brought him to and he was in his cave again. Alone and cold without Cynder near him.

The next day Spyro woke up later than usual and went to the valley below to meditate as he did the day before. He was interrupted a short time into his meditation by a dark presence.

He opened his eyes and looked around for the source. A cloaked figure stepped out from several trees and said, "Well, well. If it isn't the purple pest who defeated me at the temple. I'm back to see how you are doing and I'm ready to kill you."

"Delrothban," Spyro spat, "How do you think you can kill me if I nearly killed you last time?"

"Like this," Delrothban produced three black daggers from his cloak and threw them at Spyro. All three dug into his chest and began to burn him. The poisonous features ate at the flesh under his hard scales and injected him with their deadly venom.

Spyro used his Convexity powers to destroy the poison running his veins and focused on destroying the blades that would have killed him if he were a weaker dragon. After a few seconds the daggers exploded with a flash of purple energy.

Delrothban growled and threw another dagger at Spyro. Spyro used the powers of the mind to knock the flying dagger aside. Delrothban drew a large sword and charged forward hefting the blade above his head, preparing to cut Spyro in half.

Spyro dove to the side and unlocked Convexity. His body didn't change colors as it usually did, but his eyes did glow a purple color. Unlike the other times, Spyro was in control of his powers and used them as he wanted. Spyro fired three balls of Convexity energy at Delrothban.

The deformed human dodged all, but the last ball and was thrown against a nearby tree. Spyro dived at Delrothban and smashed a fist into the human's face. Spyro followed up with driving his head forward, connecting with Delrothban's head.

Delrothban slowly slumped to the ground and reached for his sword. Spyro watched as the dark human desperately grabbed his weapon and pulled himself to his feet.

"You still can't kill me," Delrothban laughed as he stood up. Spyro slammed his tail down on Delrothban's back, pushing him back to the ground. "When I'm done here you'll be nothing more than a legend," Delrothban continued receiving another tail strike to his back forcing him to the dirt again. "And then I'll kill your mate Cynder," Delrothban said with venom.

Spyro had enough. He let his anger take over and his power was unchecked. Convexity flowed through him freely and engulfed his mind. Spyro remained the same on the outside, but on the inside his soul was surrounded by a sphere of hateful energy that fueled this rage. Spyro's scales were still purple, but the edges of them began to glow with purple light. Fainter light started to illuminate through his hard scales and gave him a look of greatness, a powerful aura that surrounded him.

So much Convexitial energy was being produced by Spyro it caused the ground to glow a dark purple color. The area of colored land around him grew by the second. The area of land that was glowing reached thirty feet and Delrothban fled, coming up to the bank of the lake.

As he ran out of room he jumped into the air and landed about three feet out into the lake, landing with a splash of water. The purple glow spread into the water as well and caused the water to bubble with mysterious powers.

Delrothban fled to water and returned to dry land only to retreat from expansion of power. The ground near Spyro suddenly cracked and split. The fissures ran away from Spyro and expanded as the glow did.

Delrothban was utterly shocked at the power, which Spyro had gained. "There is no possible way that he should be able to control such power," he thought, "Unless, he is helping him."

Currents of purple electricity began to run along the faults in the land. The clouds above them began to gather to their location and formed a hole directly above Spyro. Purple lightning crashed into the ground kicking up dust and rocks. Delrothban coward in fear and began to retreat towards the edge of the valley to escape the power that Spyro had unleashed.

A Shadow of Katsumoto named Hotakata was several miles from the valley. He knew that the valley would be a good resting spot and changed course, making his way to the valley. An hour passed and he looked towards his destination.

Storm clouds began to gather near the valley. Hotakata found that unusual since the clouds were moving to the southeast only minutes ago and now the clouds from each direction focused on one spot. Something of great power dwelt there and if Hotakata's hunches were correct he would find his target.

Lightning descended from the clouds into the valley unnaturally. He sprinted towards the valley at full speed and knew for sure that Spyro was there.

"_**Kill him,"**_a voice echoed through Spyro's mind,_**"Make this miserable fool pay for his stupidity."**_

Spyro smiled and laughed, "It would be an honor to kill him."

"Master!" Delrothban shouted as he scrambled on the ground.

Spyro continued to smile as the dark human begged for mercy and a second chance.

Spyro felt the entity inside demand that he speak directly to his pawn. Spyro let his master do so.

"_**You pathetic fool,"**_the voice shouted from within Spyro, _**"You have failed me multiple times. Your usefulness has run its course and now it is time to end your service. You are though too dangerous to be kept alive so I'll have my new apprentice kill you."**_

"Marthaeter," Delrothban growled, "You used me for your own gains. I swear that you will die by his hands."

"_**Your foolish brother couldn't kill me so who else can?"**_Marthaeter questioned, _**"Shadedulath is weaker then Katsumoto ever was."**_

"He is more experienced and more deadly than Katsumoto," Delrothban replied, "But he will not kill you. Your new pawn will."

A loud laugh echoed through the valley, _**"He is fully mine. I have complete control over this creature. He will never be able to betray me."**_

"So you think," Delrothban said.

Spyro interrupted asking, "Master may I kill this creature now?"

"_**Yes you may,"**_ Marthaeter answered, _**"Once your done, come to the Shadow Vale and I'll instruct you from there."**_

Delrothban dissipated into smoke and Spyro looked around. He saw a shadow form at the edge of the lake. He fired at beam of Convexity at him, which pierced his side. Delrothban fell to the ground unconscious.

Spyro watched his form, but it made no movement. Spyro concluded that he was no more and walked to the water edge. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was falling back into his dark side like a few days ago. Spyro tries to rid himself of this evil, but a strong force entered his mind.

"_**Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you,"**_ Marthaeter said, _**"If you resist me I'll corrupt your love."**_

Spyro immediately stopped resisting and took off, flying north.


	9. Chapter 9: Changes of War

Sorry for the long time of no updates. I have been working on another story and I have had finals. I can't make any promises about when the next chapter will be up, but it will be up, sometime…whenever I finish it. Yeah. R&R please.Chapter 9: Changes of War

Hotakata just entered the valley when a purple object flew into the air and headed north.

Hotakata cursed himself for being so slow and entered the valley. He came across Delrothban's form and drew his sword.

Delrothban regained conscious a short time later only to find a katana pressed against his throat.

"Peace warrior I wish no harm to you," Delrothban said.

"Unlikely," Hotakata replied, "You betrayed our cause and my friendship."

"Hotakata?" Delrothban asked, "Is that you my friend?"

Hotakata pressed the tip of his blade against Delrothban's throat harder, drawing blood and scowled, "You have no right to call me your friend. Not after what you did."

"Marthaeter tried to kill me," Delrothban explained, "He has forsaken me and now I see what he truly is after taking the purple dragon."

"Then your powers of observation need to improve if you wish to survive," Hotakata replied, "I take it that you are no longer the evil creature you were."

"Aye," Delrothban said, "I must tell Shadedulath what is going to happen. I know Marthaeter's plans."

"Head south to the Celestial Caves in the White Isles," Hotakata instructed, "Shadedulath should be bringing his forces up through this land towards the Shadow Vale. Tell him that Hotakata believes you to be of use."

"Thank you my friend," Delrothban said bowing to Hotakata, "How can I repay you?"

"First take these," he said. Hotakata pulled out two katana and a shorter katana and handed them to Delrothban, "When I took these from you, you were my enemy. Now I give them back to you as a friend."

"Thank you," Delrothban said as he placed the swords in the appropriate spots.

"Never fall to the dark again," Hotakata added, "It devastated all of us and especially your brother. May his soul be with the Ancestors."

"Aye," Delrothban said, "I'm sure he is watching us at the very moment."

Delrothban headed south towards the White Isles in search for Shadedulath while Hotakata pursed Spyro northward.

Hotakata was given a special mission from Shadedulath and from Cynder. Shadedulath's mission was to spy of Spyro while Cynder's mission for him was to tell Spyro that she still loved him and was waiting for him anxiously to return.

Hotakata now needed to remain wary due to Spyro's fall to Marthaeter and the fact that he was pressing into enemy lands, but also needed to continue at full speed so he wouldn't lose Spyro.

He hoped that Spyro did not know the way to the Shadow Vale or else Hotakata wouldn't catch him in time.

Shadedulath spotted a figure on the horizon. His forces just made camp and the sun was beginning to set. He took four warriors that made up his personal guard and went out to see what was traveling towards them.

They were half a mile away when the figure waved both arms in the air and called, "Shadedulath, son of Katsumoto is this your army that marches to fight Marthaeter?"

"It is," Shadedulath replied as he approached, "And who might you be?"

"You already know me," the figure replied, "But you don't know the new person I have become."

Shadedulath stopped as he closed the last hundred feet, "Delrothban," he growled drawing his katana and dagger.

Delrothban held up his hands in a sign of summiting to him, "Peace, I mean you no harm any longer."

"How am I supposed to believe that?" Shadedulath asked as he swung both blades at his enemy.

"Because I have these," Delrothban replied as he dodged the attack. He drew a katana and a shorter katana. "I met Hotakata while I was on a mission to kill Spyro. I realized that Marthaeter was using me to get Spyro enraged enough for him to take over. He nearly killed me. Hotakata saw that I returned to the light and returned my weapons to me."

"That doesn't fix what you have done," Shadedulath noted.

"I know, but my service will hopefully make up for the problems I have caused," Delrothban said kneeling, "I offer these blades in your service if you would have them."

Shadedulath looked down on his mentor's brother, the traitor of their cause. He didn't fully trust him, but he needed every sword he could find and Delrothban knew many secrets of Marthaeter and the darkness that would come in handy later.

"I will accept these swords in the manner that they are offered, but you must provide us with information first," Shadedulath said.

"And I'm willing to tell you all that I know," Delrothban replied.

"Good," Shadedulath smiled, "We will meet in my tent in an hour's time. Sharlad, Yariv, show Delrothban to his tent, use the empty one near mine."

The two Shadows of Katsumoto bowed and led Delrothban towards the tent city.

"You trust him my lord?" asked one of Shadedulath's guards.

"If he provides use with the information that we need then yes, Catyris, but not at this moment," Shadedulath stated, "How do you feel of Delrothban, Olerp?"

"I feel that you should just executed him here my lord," Olerp replied.

Shadedulath turned and asked, "Why is that?"

"When the men find out that the traitor is here they will attack him and your credibility will be questioned," Olerp explained.

"You don't remember what I said many months ago though," Shadedulath replied, "He has a part in this war that must be fulfilled. I see now that his purpose is for our benefit and not a hindrance. He will save many lives with what he is going to share with us."

Hotakata ran on despite the fatigue of his limbs. He had been chasing after Spyro for a few days since the valley and meeting with Delrothban. Hotakata though pushed on keeping an eye on the purple blur that was only a few miles ahead of him.

He knew that the Portal of Shadows was less than two days from his position and soon his chase would be over. At least his equipment was lighter since he gave Delrothban back what was once the traitor's.

He put more energy into his efforts in hope to catch up with Spyro before he entered the Portal of Shadows.

Cynder was greatly depressed. She felt something had happened to Spyro, but she couldn't tell what had happened. She hoped and prayed that Spyro was all right. She could stand to think of what she would do if she had lost him. Word had reached her that the traitor Delrothban has defected Marthaeter's service and regained his status of a Shadow of Katsumoto again. If anyone knew how to free her love from darkness it would be him. She sent out to find him.

"What do you know of Marthaeter?" asked Shadedulath.

"He is a creature I know nothing about. A creature that no human has met before. He has incredible mental powers. With those powers he can do nearly anything he pleases. Typically he corrupts his servants so they can do his dirty work for him. He has several different worlds under his control and draws upon them to serve in an army he calls, 'The Purgers'. He sends in this force when shadow spawn and zek fail to control the land. He is gathering this host to assault the realm."

"How large is this force?" Walker questioned.

Delrothban looked at the ceiling of the tent for a moment and said, "If I had to guess about thirty times larger than the force you have gathered here."

Walker cursed to himself as Shadedulath asked, "Have you seen this force?"

"No," Delrothban answered.

"How do you know such a force exists then?" asked Walker.

"Because I have seen smaller portions of this army come through the Shadow Vale. My estimate is simply based on what I have seen come through that dark realm. I know that there are more since I was able to work it out of some of traveling forces."

"If you had to guess," Shadedulath began, "How many do you think there are total?"

"At least…" Delrothban started as he tried to remember the information he gathered, "Double or triple the original total."

Walker cursed again only worse than before and broke a chunk of his edge of the table as he pounded it.

Shadedulath's face showed worry and concern now as he tried to fathom how he could hold back a force that large with only twenty thousand warriors, not including though the injured.

"How long do we have?" he quietly asked.

"Two and a half weeks," Delrothban answered.

"That will give us time to gather more recruits, but it won't allow us to hold them back for along than a week at most," Shadedulath said, "Walker I want you to send out all of our messengers to gather more warriors from anywhere that will support our cause."

Walker bowed saying, "Yes my lord."

"Delrothban," Shadedulath continued, "You can go back to your tent. I won't need anymore information from you for a little while."

He bowed and left for his tent that Shadedulath had sent up for him. He entered and found it to be simple as everyone else's was. He lay down on his bed. He never needed sleep when he served Marthaeter, but now he felt tried and welcomed the sleep that he had not had in over ten years.

He had just gotten comfortable when a blade was pressed against his throat.

"If you make a noise I'll slit your throat you beast," a whisper sounded.

"Ah, it's nice to see you as well Cynder," Delrothban whispered.

"It's going to be nice to see you dead in a few days," Cynder replied with a soft growl.

"So tell me," Delrothban asked, "Why have come to me in such a kind manner?"

"I need to free Spyro," Cynder replied, "And you're going to help me."

"I can only tell you how to help him," Delrothban informed her, "But you must be the one to save him."

"Fine," Cynder replied, "Tell me how to save him."

Delrothban smiled and said, "You are the way."

"What," Cynder asked.

"You are the way to free Spyro. If you go to him you'll show Spyro what he means to you, which will weaken Marthaeter's hold on him," Delrothban said.

"Do you think that we didn't do that to prevent his fall?" Cynder growled in frustration, "It didn't keep him from the darkness so why should it work to get him out of the darkness?"

"Only from the shadows can you see the light," Delrothban replied, "You and I know that from experience."

She punched him in the face and roared, "Don't you ever bring up my past again. I was tainted from birth, you chose to leave for it."

"It makes no difference since we are both free of it," Delrothban replied, "Forgive me."

"How do I know that this isn't a trick," Cynder questioned.

Delrothban eyes widened in shock. "Marthaeter tried to kill me. I fled with my life. I willing gave Shadedulath the information he needed."

"So you could be lying," Cynder said.

"I have my swords again!" Delrothban shouted.

"How gives a shit if you're armed again or not?" Cynder roared.

Delrothban looked appalled, but quickly realized that she wasn't familiar with their traditions. He calmed himself and explained, "Cynder when I was given my swords back it meant that I was who I use to be. I have my soul back. I have my honor again. The sword holds the souls of the Ancestors before us in them. We pledge our sword in turn we pledge our soul once we die."

"Your souls and swords won't get Spyro back," Cynder replied as tears gathered in her eyes.

"No, only you can," Delrothban said, "You are Spyro's light. You are the beckon in the foggy night that will guide him home to you."

"Shut up!" she screamed, "It hasn't worked. Tell me how to save him!" She threw another punch that connected with his jaw.

"You are," he said.

"Stop lying," Cynder thrashed her tail against him.

"I'm not," Delrothban replied, "You are the only way."

"Tell me how to save him!" she roared in misery as she continued to beat him.

Shadedulath burst through the tent entrance and shouted, "Cynder leave him alone!"

"Not until he tells me how to save Spyro!" she returned as she glared at Shadedulath.

"It is you that he needs to be saved," Delrothban repeated.

She was going to strike him again when she saw Shadedulath make a move to stop her. She fired a stream of shadows at him throwing out of the tent. She went back to strike Delrothban. After a second someone dove and tackled her to the ground.

Walker quickly grabbed Delrothban and pulled him from the tent and brought him outside with four Shadows of Katsumoto surrounding him.

Shadedulath had pinned Cynder to the ground and demanded that she looked at him. She cried with her eyes sealed shut.

"Cynder look at me!" Shadedulath yelled.

After a second she complied and looked at him. He had a drained look to him, which was caused by the powers of shadow that Cynder used on him.

"Cynder, we are going to get him back," Shadedulath spoke in a softer voice, "I swear by my sword and life."

She was about to tell Shadedulath the same thing she said to Delrothban about the sword, but she realized it was their way of promising her.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I need him back. I can't stand to live without him."

"We know," Shadedulath said, "That's mainly why we are going to the Shadow Vale."

"I thought we are going to the Shadow Vale to defeat Marthaeter's forces," Cynder spoke gaining more control over her emotions.

"We were, but Delrothban has informed us that the army that Marthaeter sends is to large and powerful for us at the moment," Shadedulath replied, "We need Spyro to help us."

"How are going to get to him?" she asked.

"I'm putting together a strike force to infiltrate the Shadow Vale with me to convince Spyro to come back with us or capture him. I'm putting you on the strike force with me. Delrothban will be joining since he knows the lay out of the realm. Can you bare three more days?"

"I'll try," Cynder replied.

"Thank you," Shadedulath said letting her up.

The next day came as Hotakata was within a few miles of the Portal of Shadows. He knew Spyro had landed, but he knew that Spyro knew not where the portal was exactly. When came to the last hill before the portal he felt a disturbance in the air.

"The portal," he whispered.

He dropped his equipment and sprinted over the hill to see Spyro standing before the Portal of Shadows.

The ancient archway was made of rock and stood only ten feet high and thirty feet wide. The ground around the structure was barren, voided of any and all life. The grey dirt below told all that this structure was evil and unnatural. All that were wise avoided it.

Spyro looked at the portal as the wormhole formed inside the rocks. He stepped through and Hotakata finished the distance and entered the Shadow Vale. Hoping that he could stop Spyro before it was too late.

Hotakata found himself in a bleak, mountainous land. Different shades of grey, and black were the only different colors in the realm. Even the sky was a dark grey. The only color was the purple dragon that had taken off a few moments before Hotakata came through. Spyro again had already taken to the sky and was flying southwestward. Hotakata sighed and ran after the fleeing purple dragon.

"By the Ancestors," Hotakata said, "Can he take at least one break?"

After a short time Hotakata saw large collection of spires in the distance. The clouds above the spires were lit with flashes of lightning. Hotakata knew were to go and took an alternate route to avoid detection.

As Shadedulath's forces advanced closer to the Portal of Shadows, the number of recruited soldiers increased. There were about five thousand new recruits that joined the march against Marthaeter. Still twenty-five thousand men wouldn't hold against a force sixty to ninety times larger than there own. It was necessary though. Who would stand against Marthaeter if not his forces? The dragons certainly couldn't by themselves. They were now two days from the portal and the strike force was getting ready to leave. They would immediately depart once they arrived to get Spyro. As they were retrieving Spyro his engineers would inspect the portal for weaknesses to destroy it. He hoped it would be that simple.

Hotakata climbed a stonewall, using only the cracks and fissures in the wall to pull himself up to his destination. It took him a full day to safely maneuver through the rocky terrain of the Shadow Vale, avoiding enemies. There was a window about twenty feet above him. He pushed himself harder and was just under the window when he heard movement inside the window. He waited for the sound to subside before moving up to the window.

He pulled himself over the ledge and through the window. Luckily no one was in the hallway. He quickly dashed across the hall to where there was a door. He opened it and slipped in. Inside there were weapons and armor. Hotakata realized he had little armor on and snatched several pieces of armor and placed them on. Though he strongly disliked wearing helmets, he wore one so it would conceal his identity.

He exited the room and walked down the hallway towards the center of the fortress where Spyro should be. He found it hard to restrain himself from drawing his sword and cutting down the creatures that passed him by. He eventually found Spyro walking down the hall toward him. He quickly moved aside so the dragon would think suspiciously of him.

Spyro passed without a second glance at him. Once Spyro rounded the corner Hotakata stopped and headed the direction that Spyro had gone. He glances down the corner before walking down to make sure Spyro didn't see him. Spyro was about halfway down the hall when Hotakata began to follow.

Spyro stopped three quarters of the way down the hall and opened a door, which Hotakata assumed was his quarters. He made his way down the hall and came to the door.

He knocked twice and there was a deep growl followed by, "Who is it?"

"I have a message," Hotakata replied.

Spyro opened the door and let him in. Spyro then closed the door after Hotakata came in.

"I know your not one the creatures of this realm. You're a Shadow of Katsumoto aren't you?" Spyro asked.

Hotakata removed his helmet and bowed to Spyro, "I am indeed. You are gifted."

Spyro looked at the ground and said, "That is why I'm enslaved like this. I wish I could have just been normal."

"You are to save the realm though. No ordinary dragon can do that only you the purple dragon can," Hotakata responded.

Spyro turned to the human and growled, "And saving the realm has caused me so much trouble and pain. It can burn in hell for all I care. Along with you and your kind."

"What about Cynder?" Hotakata asked, "You're just going to let her die then?"

Spyro pinned Hotakata to ground and pressed his tail spike against Hotakata's neck, "Don't you ever talk about her."

"I'm sorry, but I was given strict orders to give you a message that concerns her," Hotakata replied.

"Tell me then," Spyro roared, "If anything has happened to her I must know."

"She is losing her mind," Hotakata answered.

"Damn it Marthaeter," Spyro cursed, "You promised to spare her!"

"She is not corrupted," Hotakata said, "She is losing her personality since you are not with her. She is in desperate need of you."

"As I," Spyro said, "You've followed me since the valley have you not?"

"Yes," Hotakata replied, "I have. I have a message from Cynder for you."

Hotakata pulled out a sheet of paper with strange markings on it. He showed it to Spyro.

Spyro growled, "I can't read your language."

"Forgive me. I have forgotten you don't know our runes," Hotakata said, "It says, Spyro. I have missed you and everything that you are. I have realized that you are the source of so much happiness in my life and now that you are gone, the happiness left too. I'm cold at night without near and the days are not what they use to be. I need you back are I fear that I will lose myself. Your love, Cynder."

Spyro felt a tear fall from his face and stared at the ground where the tear made the ground darker colored. He closed his eyes knowing what he had done. His love was suffering again. He hated that. He hated the entire situation. He hated most of his life in fact. The only times he like his life was when he was with Cynder.

He opened his eyes and looked towards Hotakata saying, "Go back to her and tell her exactly this. I longed to be back with her, but Marthaeter will corrupt her if I do return. I must kill him before I can return. I love her and will be with her soon. Now leave. If I see you back here again I may not be so kind."

Hotakata bowed and left his room, heading back Shadedulath and Cynder to share what he had.


	10. Chapter 10: Retrieval

**I'm sorry to everyone who has been waiting for me to update this story. I had a lot going on and I was focusing on another story. I am back though with chapter 10. I also had to take my time with this one since there are several key points that I didn't want to mess up since they in turn would mess up the rest of the storyline. But here it is. Enjoy and please R&R.**

Chapter 10: Retrieval

"Hotakata's belongings my lord," Walker said as he picked up the equipment Hotakata left when he followed Spyro through two days earlier.

"Search the area for him," Shadedulath ordered, "I want the area around the portal searched and secured for the engineers. I'm leaving with the strike force in an hour."

Walker gave the orders and Shadedulath walked back to the camp that was just behind the hills a couple hundred feet away. Delrothban, Cynder, Shadedulath's guards Sharlad, Yariv, Catyris, and Olerp, along with three other veteran warriors were waiting for him.

Shadedulath just made it to the group when Walker shouted out to him from the portal, "My lord come and see this!"

Shadedulath and the party ran to the hill that Walker was on. They looked to were the portal was. Half a dozen warriors were gathered around the portal with weapons drawn.

After several moments Hotakata ran out of the portal and fell to the ground. Shadedulath and Delrothban were the first to charge down the hill with swords drawn. Followed by the other members of the strike force.

Two of the warriors began to pull Hotakata away from the portal, but Hotakata threw them off and stood up slowly.

Two large vicious dragons exited the portal. The two glared at the warriors and roared as they charged at them. These dragons were at least fifteen feet tall and walked on fours. They had two massive wings. The body was covered with small scales and had hundred of spikes protruding from all over their bodies. They were black in color like the shadows and had sickly green colored eyes. Multiple pairs of horns sprouted from their heads and jawbones. They had look, but beefy tails with cruel tail blades. Their claws and teeth were of a dark steel color matching their dark characteristics.

One warrior with a spear like weapon thrust it into the chest of the dragon. The dragon screeched and swung its claws at the warrior who was able to evade the swipe. Fire gathered in the dragon's mouth and was about to breath fire when a shadow mist blinded it. The shadow fog ate at the skin of the demonic dragon, chewing through the scales and spikes.

The dragon flapped its wings a few times and cleared the shadows from it. The creature now sported a large bloody gash on it chest. Cynder used the opportunity to blast some of her poison into the wound, killing the dragon a few seconds later.

Hotakata ducked under a swipe of the other dragon's tail and swung his sword at its back leg, cutting deep into the leg, causing the dragon to fall over onto its side. Another warrior with a sword bladed spear stabbed the beast in the chest where the heart would be. The dragon howled in pain as the blade pierced its black heart.

By that time Shadedulath and the others had made it to the scene after trailing Cynder who took flight to engage the dragons.

"Hotakata," Shadedulath addressed him, "You bring good news I hope."

"Not exactly Spyro will not return until he has killed Marthaeter. He sends his love to you Cynder and he hopes to be back soon," Hotakata informed.

Shadedulath looked to Delrothban and asked, "Do you think Spyro can kill Marthaeter?"

"Not at the moment," Delrothban replied, "Marthaeter still has too much control over Spyro."

"Hotakata getting bandaged up and meet back here in ten minutes," Shadedulath commanded, "We're leaving in a few minutes to get Spyro back."

Spyro was in his chambers preparing for something that he might not return from. After hearing how desperately Cynder needed him he concluded that he could no long wait to confront and kill Marthaeter. He may have enslaved the Dark Master, but he wouldn't enslave this purple dragon. His love and future life with her depended on him doing this. He began to focus his energies so he could summon them at any given second. When he thought he was ready he took a deep breath and headed for Marthaeter's chambers.

As he headed towards his master's chambers he noticed a large host of warriors that he hadn't seen before.

"He must be preparing for the assault," Spyro thought.

The rest of the walk to the chamber was annoying for him. Random creatures of Marthaeter were I his way to getting to his master. They demanded to know why he wanted to his Marthaeter and he simply would reply with that it was message strictly for Marthaeter. The guard would think for a moment before they let him pass.

He approached the doors to Marthaeter's chamber, opened them, and entered the chamber. Marthaeter was nowhere to be seen.

Spyro looked around for a moment before he called, "Master?"

Spyro felt the air around him shift. Above him was a smoky ball. The ball descended to Spyro's eye level. At that point shadows began to fall to the floor. Legs and arms were created from the smoke, but still remained liquid like. The dark ball that hovered in front of Spyro began to morph until a black version of his face was looking back at him.

"What do you need?" the shadow hissed.

"I have a question that I need answered," Spyro replied.

"And what question might that be?" Marthaeter inquired.

"Are you a t all afraid of death?" Spyro asked with a smile as he brought his Convexity powers forth.

"No," Marthaeter replied as he assault Spyro's mind, preventing him from using his Convexitial powers.

"_**Now tell me Spyro,"**_ Marthaeter mentally asked, _**"Do you fear death?"**_

"_No,"_ Spyro replied.

"_**That's right we have already gone over this,"**_ the shadow said in a humorous manner, _**"You fear losing Cynder. Shall we see what happens when she is reunited with the dark powers?"**_

"_No,"_ Spyro cried with his mind, using the emotions of rage and hate to repel the mental assault. Spyro had managed to make Marthaeter loosen his hold on his mind.

Marthaeter was greatly surprised by the display of power Spyro had placed in the attack. He knew that Spyro wasn't one to play with. He renewed his efforts determined to gain total control of Spyro's mind as quickly as possible.

"_**You can't win,"**_ Marthaeter said, _**"I have corrupted your kind plenty of times before. I know what I'm doing."**_

"I won't fall," Spyro protested.

"_**Oh, but you will, just like ever purple dragon before you,"**_ Marthaeter said pressing his mental force deeper into Spyro's weakening defenses.

"What?" Spyro asked confused, providing the second that Marthaeter required.

Spyro fell to his knees and roared as Marthaeter began to regain control of him, "No, Cynder, I have failed!"

"Spyro's eyes closed as Marthaeter whispered, _**"Yes remember how you have failed her. Use the anger against your enemies. They can't stop you."**_ Spyro's eyes snapped open to reveal dark grey eyes, lifeless and cold. Spyro had lost his freedom to Marthaeter.

"_**Go and rest,"**_ Marthaeter said, _**"You'll need it in the next few days."**_

Spyro silently left and went into his room. He entered it and went straight to his bed where he curled up, trying to find sleep.

Something didn't seem right though he opened an eye and scanned the room without moving his head. His eye stopped when he saw Cynder. She took a step back. She wore a frightened look on her face. Spyro raised his head and looked at her.

Cynder moved forward this time asking, "Spyro what happened to you?"

"I have been given all the power I need to enslave the realm," Spyro coldly said.

Cynder closed her eyes and a several tears slid down her face, hitting the dead grey stone below. She wished she didn't hear that. Spyro was for sure now under Marthaeter's complete control.

"Spyro please, come back with me," Cynder pleaded, "Leave this darkness and share your life with me, just like you said you wished you could."

"That's impossible now," Spyro replied, "I'm committed to the darkness."

"I was once too," Cynder argued, "But you saved me. I can save you from this. I have to."

"You don't have to do anything," Spyro replied, "You have no purpose in the realms."

"I did have a purpose," Cynder said, "When you were with me, but I guess I mean nothing to you now."

"You meant a lot to me, but I have found a life that does require fear of evil and war, or losing those you love," Spyro responded, "I have found a live of conquering, free of all fears and loses."

"Spyro this isn't you," Cynder cried, "Break free, please."

Spyro leapt from his bed and pinned her to the ground, growling and glaring at her, "I'm tired of being counted on by everyone. It's time that I did as I pleased."

"Don't you love me?" she questioned, hoping he would give into her pleas.

Spyro growled, "No."

Cynder began to weep more. The tears marked her face with lines where they flowed down. "Please Spyro, kill me then."

"No I still have questions for you," Spyro replied, "Why have you come?"

"To free you. Spyro I love you and I can't stand not being with you," Cynder said.

"Love," Spyro spat, "Love is the weakness of all. Luckily I have purged mine."

Cynder let her head slowly lower to the floor in defeat. She lost him, forever.

Suddenly Spyro roared in pain and fell over onto the floor. Cynder turned and looked at the window to see Shadedulath with a bow in hand. He drew another and was about to fire it when Spyro began to laugh.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha…you think you can kill me like that?" Spyro asked getting up, "I see exactly why you are here Cynder. You brought them to kill me and to actually think that you loved me."

"No Spyro they are here to help you," Cynder argued, "We want you back to your normal self."

"Not going to happen," Spyro replied getting into a fighting stance.

Delrothban stepped forward from a shadow saying, "Spyro don't be foolish, don't be blinded like I was by his evil. Break free, you regret this life later."

Hotakata entered the room through the window and stood next to the Shadedulath's guards.

"I thought you would at least have the sense to listen to me when I said never to come back here," Spyro said as he saw the Shadow of Katsumoto, " SO which one of you has the guts to try and kill me?"

Shadedulath stepped forward arguing, "Spyro we aren't here to kill you, we are here to…"

Spyro interrupted him shouting, "Do you think I'm stupid? I know you aren't here to free since that's impossible."

"Spyro if you believe us to be here to kill you," Shadedulath stated, "Don't you think I would have brought a larger force? We can't kill you."

"Aw but I can kill you," Spyro simply replied.

Sharlad, Yariv, Catyris, and Olerp drew their swords to defend their leader. Shadedulath raised a hand, signaling for them to stand down, "If he wants to fight me, then he may," Shadedulath said. He turned to Spyro and asked, "If you kill me you must promise to let them go unharmed."

"Fine," Spyro growled.

Shadedulath drew his long and short katana and prepared for the duel.

Spyro dove at Shadedulath with his horns aimed at Shadedulath's chest. Shadedulath just managed to move out of the way as Spyro flew past him. It was dark, making it harder for him to fight. On top of that Shadedulath was trying not to kill Spyro while Spyro was trying to kill him. Thirdly Spyro had enough power to destroy an entire army with nothing more then a blink of an eye.

Spyro swung his tail at chest level forcing Shadedulath backwards. Spyro pressed forward against Shadedulath with horn, tooth, and claw. Shadedulath countered this by kicking Spyro backwards. Shadedulath moved forward to restrain Spyro, but the dragon was already repressing his assault. Shadedulath was forced to drive his short katana into the side of Spyro's right horn, preventing it from entering his stomach. The sword slipped from Shadedulath's grip as Spyro threw his head at him, trying to stab him with his other horn.

Shadedulath caught the side of the horn in his hand. Spyro pushed towards Shadedulath with his horn, but Shadedulath's strength held, not allowing Spyro to gain an inch. Spyro took advantage of the opportunity and stabbed his tail into Shadedulath's side.

Shadedulath grip weakened and he threw himself to the side. Spyro smiled and approached Shadedulath who was on the floor gasping for breath. Spyro was about to stab his tail through his chest when Shadedulath's legs knocked out his own and the four foot long katana was against his scaled throat.

"You move and I cut your throat," Shadedulath threatened.

"Did it!" Spyro roared, "I dare you. You would be doing me a favor anyways." Spyro pressed himself up allowing the sword's sharp edge to cut through the scales and dig into the flesh below, letting blood flow from the connection.

Cynder gasped and yelled, "Shade! Stop he's going to kill himself doing that!"

He motioned for Hotakata to throw him his short katana. Hotakata presented it and Shadedulath gripped it strongly. Cynder began to worry what was going to happen.

Spyro looked at Shadedulath with surprise, "So you have what it takes do you?"

Shadedulath looked at Spyro and said, "Our mission was to free you…" Shadedulath slowly brought the short katana across his body and swung it at his head and with a sickening thud Spyro fell to the floor.

Shadedulath knelt down next to the body and whispered, "And it still is." He looked at the large gash that was on his forehead where the pummel struck him.

Cynder knocked him to ground and roared in pain when she saw Spyro. She scooped up his head and gently stroked it. Cynder then glared at Shadedulath and warned, "If he's dead, pray to the Ancestors that you die before I can get to you."

"He should be dead Cynder," Shadedulath said, "I knocked him unconscious for the trip back."

"You better be right," Cynder growled.

Hotakata approached Shadedulath and asked, "Should we bind him encase he awakens?"

"Yes," he replied, "Let's getting moving. I don't like being here. Every second we are in this realm the more likely Marthaeter notice we are here."

**Who thought I killed Spyro? I liked the idea of making it seem like Shadedulath kill Spyro. Little twist. I can't for sure say when the next chapter will be up, but it will be up before the month is over. R&R.**


	11. Chapter 11: Regaining

**Ok sorry for the delay in updating. I was busy finishing up That Night and I have gone through living Hell in the last few weeks with all the stuff going on between sports, school, my girlfriend, family, and all that crap. Luckily there is a lull at the moment, but who knows how long this peace will last for before the world collapses again. So saying that I just wanted to put this chapter up at this time before things got too out of hand. I have started working on the next chapter. Don't know when it will be up. The delay was mostly because I changed the outline a bit and as you will see, the Chronicler gets involved. Please R&R.**

**Shadow Dragon 537039**

Chapter 11: Regaining

It had been a full day since Spyro had been brought back to camp. Spyro was bound in Cynder's tent near Shadedulath's. Even though Spyro wasn't himself at all, she still hated seeing him bound like this. He was held to a series of five wooden poles by several different chains. Much of his forehead was crusted over with dried blood. They had treated the wounds as best as possible, but they would have to heal on their own. The several cuts from Shadedulath's swords were visible as well. The worst damage was on the horn where Shadedulath's sword cut. A deep groove was in the base of the horn.

Cynder sat in front of Spyro a few feet away from him in case he became violent when he awoke. She hoped that he would be able to be saved. If not she had no reason to live.

Spyro stirred from his unconsciousness and groaned. His eyes were barely open as he scanned his surroundings. When his eyes came to rest on Cynder they widened. A growl emanated from his throat.

"What are you doing here?" he coldly asked, "Why am I bound?"

"Because you're not yourself Spyro," Cynder softly said, "Until you return to your old self you shall remain like this."

"We will see about that," Spyro growled.

Spyro turned his head to bite on the chains when he felt something cold press against his throat. He looked back to Cynder to find her standing before him with her tail blade against his neck.

"Do it," Spyro spat, "I know you wouldn't kill me. You still think that there is a chance to save me."

Cynder pressed the blade harder against his throat, cutting the scales and drawing blood, "I'm willing to do anything to get you back."

"Press a little harder," Spyro taunted, "Killing me will be the only way to save me."

"I refuse to believe that," Cynder replied.

"Then you have failed," Spyro responded.

Cynder sighed and asked, "Spyro do you remember when we first met?"

Spyro paused for a moment trying to recall the event.

"We were both enemies, but you saved me from the evil that the Dark Master had filled me with," Cynder explained, "You risked your life for me when I didn't want the help, but still you rescued me. I'm willing to do the same for you, even if it claims my life in the process. I'm going to save you Spyro I promise you that."

Spyro growled, "You will have to break my will to do that and I for sure have a stronger will."

Cynder's eye ridges furrowed and she approached him with a serious look, "Oh really?"

She circled him once and sat in front of him when she finished the circle. She quickly pressed her lips against his. She continued for at least a minute until she felt Spyro loosen up. She broke the kiss and looked at the dragon she loved.

Spyro's eyes were closed and his head leaned to one side limp. She hoped that he hadn't died and whispered, "Spyro?"

Spyro's eyes suddenly opened as if he was greatly startled. He looked around at his surroundings and was panting. Cynder quickly embraced him and Spyro was surprised at the hug since he didn't know who gave him it. He looked down and saw Cynder against his chest. He wrapped his forelegs and wings around her.

"Cynder," Spyro asked completely confused, "Where am I?"

"Near the Portal of Shadows," Cynder answered, "We rescued you from the Shadow Vale and freed you from Marthaeter's control."

"That's right," Spyro said still trying though to remember specifics, "I went to kill Marthaeter, but he overpowered me and I can't remember anything after that."

"Shadedulath led a party of men to help kidnap you back," Cynder replied, "I was there, and you weren't very cooperative. Shadedulath was forced to fight you and you lost and got a series of cuts and bruises for it."

"Oh," Spyro said, "That's why my head hurts and probably why I'm bound."

"Yeah pretty much," Cynder said as she smiled, "You always were difficult." She nuzzled his neck and sighed, "It's great to have you back Spyro. I swore I would bring you back and now I have you again."

"I'm always yours," Spyro smiled, "Thanks for not giving up on me."

"I never would," Cynder said giving him a kiss.

A short time later Shadedulath, Delrothban, Walker, Hotakata, and Shadedulath's guards entered the tent where Spyro was being held.

"I see we have our old friend back," Shadedulath commented as he saw Spyro, "I'm sorry for your injuries that I gave you."

Spyro shook his head, "Don't worry about it."

Delrothban stepped forward and bowed before him, "I haven't had the honor of meeting the true purple savior yet. My name is Delrothban. I have need to thank you for bringing me back to my old life."

"You're welcome," Spyro said unsure on how to respond to the statement.

"Spyro, I must warn you that Marthaeter will probably be trying to regain control over you so be wary," Delrothban added, "As Cynder knows it is extremely hard to free you from his power."

"I will resist him," Spyro vowed, "Don't worry."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help, but worry," Delrothban said, "Marthaeter is very clever and crafty."

"Yes as in everyone there is still darkness in you Spyro," Shadedulath stated, "In our culture we explain it by the Yin Yang."

Shadedulath drew out a circle and filled a tear shape in one half, but left a small circle in the middle white. He finished by doing the opposite of the first. He left the half white, but made a black dot in the middle of the white half.

"Now as you probably have guessed the white half represents light and the black half represents evil or darkness. The dot in each one shows that there is always light in darkness and darkness in light. This applies to dragons and us very well. It shows us that no matter who we are there is always a little darkness in us or if you are evil there is always a little bit of light within you," Shadedulath explained.

Cynder asked, "Where is the Chronicler?"

"I'm not sure," Shadedulath replied, "Walker send two scouts to search the camp for the Lord of Time."

"Right away my lord," Walker said exiting the tent.

Those scouts though would never find the ancient dragon since he was in a different realm.

In the Shadow Vale near the Portal of Shadows a flash of blue light appeared. Once it faded the Chronicler stood in place of the light. The ancient writer of history looked around the barren land with distaste. He proceeded forward towards the liar of Marthaeter.

Two hours had passed and the scouts finally returned to inform Walker that they had found no signs of the Chronicler. Walker cursed under his breath and made his way back towards Spyro and Cynder's tent. He entered promptly and shared the bad news. No one had any idea where the aged dragon may be.

Shadedulath stood and changed the topic saying, "We will have to find him later. At the moment we must prepare for Marthaeter's forces. Walker, I want you to lead the development of fortifications and Hotakata I want you to escorts the engineers to the Portal of Shadows. Try to find a weak point that would cause the structure to lose the connection with the Shadow Vale."

They both bowed and left to begin their assigned tasks.

"As for everyone else, prepare for the longest and most difficult battle of your lives," Shadedulath warned. He left to prepare himself for combat.

The Chronicler approached the gates of Marthaeter's fortress. Four great demons stood at the gate and saw the grey dragon approach. They were hideous was simply the best way to describe the demons in a humane and kind way. The creatures were midnight black colored with large teeth that were a rotten yellow color. Their claws were the same color and as long as their forearms were. Largely built and tough hide protected them. Their eyes burned orange like fire as they glared at the dragon.

The Chronicler then noticed seven or so, four legged demons. The creatures' mouths dominated the front of the demons face. On the side of the head there were two sets of eyes that burned an orange color. Many rows of sharp teeth could be seen in the demon's mouth. A purple barbed tongue shot out every few seconds. The tails on the beasts were stubby, but had spikes lining the tail stabbing outwards in every direction.

One of the demons growled, "Hold, what are you doing here dragon?"

"I'm here to see your master," the Chronicler answered.

"No one sees the master," the demon replied.

"I will," the ancient dragon said confidently.

The demon glared at the dragon and said, "You have no power to enter here dragon."

"You wish to test me then," the Chronicler replied.

"Yes," the demon answered.

"Fine," the Chronicler simply said.

The demon roared and charged towards the grey dragon. The Chronicler opened his mouth and an intense beam of white energy flew forth and ripped a hole through the chest of the demon.

The Chronicler spoke loudly, "Will you let me pass or will you suffer the same fate as your companion?"

The demons growled, but allowed him to pass. The Chronicler walked into the fortress. No one further bothered him. Sadly he knew this fortress too well. He remembered this place as his old home, not the dark and bleak land it is now. It saddened his heart to see what was a crown jewel of the ancient dragons.

He arrived before the gates that led to Marthaeter's chambers. The Chronicler hesitated for a moment before pressing forward through the gates.

The once great council chambers had been stripped of any remains of the past. The walls were worn and dark. The tapestries that displayed great heroes and events of the dragon race where gone, erasing the knowledge that came with them. The Chronicler looked around the old room. He closed his eyes to remember what this place looked like. The image in his mind was a beautiful one that brought him back to his childhood.

A whisper in his mind threw the memory way, _**"I see we meet again, my friend."**_

"You are not longer my friend and you have known that for five thousand years," the grey dragon quickly replied.

"Yes, but times have changed and I'm willing to forgive what you did to me in the past," Marthaeter said, speaking with his mouth this time.

"You are the one who attacked me after I found out what you were trying to do," the Chronicler replied strongly, "You thought that I would just let you try a procedure that would have killed you?"

"It probably would have been better if you let me die," Marthaeter said, "Seeing at what I have become now, which you caused."

"I may have caused you to have lost your mind, but that is only because you were to greedy and stupid to realize when to stop," the ancient dragon stated.

"Stop?" Marthaeter said, "Why stop? I have nearly unlimited power at my disposal. This is what becomes of one who embraces a power fully."

Small walls, about ten feet high were raised in a few hours. These walls were strategically placed on the tops of the first rows of hills. The stone and wood that were used to build the walls were sent from the base to meet them.

Most of the forces were setting themselves up, preparing for the massive assault. The greater part of this force was made up of random citizen soldiers from various parts of the realm. Most were decently experience in combat thanks to the Shadows of Katsumoto's continuous training of new recruits. Still there were a handful that hade never seen a sword or bow before and couldn't grasp how to use either.

The conscripts were placed along the small walls while the Shadows of Katsumoto were holding the sturdily built and heavily reinforced wooden gate.

Last minute defenses were being placed. One example was a group of citizens that had ran out away from the wall with a piece of rope that was a hundred yards long. One stood in place while the second would run out until the rope of taught. Then the first one would repeat the process. They went out to five hundred yards as ordered and hastily made their way back to the wall.

Every hundred yards a second group placed a long metal pole about twenty feet in height. They were soundly in place so the enemy forces wouldn't pull them up.

An hour passed and in the distance the Portal of Shadows could be seen as it came to life. The walls were a little over a half mile away from the portal. All the defenders prepared themselves for the brutal battle to come.

**There you go, I hope everyone enjoyed it. Please tell me how it was. Until next time,**

Wear anger as your armor, wield revenge as your blade, and carry darkness as your shield – Shadow Dragon 537039.


	12. Chapter 12: Power

**Ok I'm nearly done with this story. Only two chapters left after this. I hope everyone enjoys and please everyone review. Reviews have been at an all time low for Spyro stories. Let's get out of this ditch so please review my works and other author's works. **

Chapter 12: Power

"My lord, my lord!" a Shadow of Katsumoto shouted as he entered the war tent.

Shadedulath looked up from his map of the area and asked, "Yes?"

"The enemy is approaching," the envoy replied.

Shadedulath immediately rose from his seat and hurried out of the tent. Delrothban, Spyro, Cynder, and Shadedulath's guards followed.

Shadedulath, Delrothban, and the guards were fully armored in the customary armor. Heavily scale mail and underneath was a suit of chain mail. The greaves that protected the lower leg were in place as well as the vambraces that protected the forearm, the rerebraces that cover the upper which then joined with the pauldrons or shoulder guards.

The dragons broke off with the envoy to armor themselves up. The others though continued towards the defenses.

Marthaeter laughed at the grey dragon before him, "I know you aren't here to just talk to me, so tell me why are you here?"

"To fix a mistake I had caused a long time ago," the Chronicler answered.

"You didn't assist in defeating my minion Malefor when he nearly controlled the entire realm, but now that I begin to take parts of the northlands you come to fight me," Marthaeter commented, "It doesn't make sense."

"I'm acting now because it is my fault that you are alive to invade this realm," the Chronicler roared, "And tonight I intend to fix that mistake."

"I look forward to seeing that," Marthaeter said with a smile.

"I guarantee you won't be smiling after it," the Chronicler replied.

The battle began as the enemy approached the wall. They were within the first perimeter of poles and the archers fired arrows. It wasn't until the enemy passed the fourth pole out when the hail of arrows crashed into the creatures. The strategy worked. The farthest the bow used by the Shadows of Katsumoto could launch an arrow was around four hundred meters. The five hundred meter marker simply told the archers when to fire.

The archers drew another arrow and launched them again having similar effects. The enemy forces passed the two hundred meter marker, closing in on the wall. The Shadows of Katsumoto prepared themselves for defending the wall, to the death if need be.

Shadedulath was now with them, standing at the front of the formation as their ancestors had done. The rear lines had their bows ready for additional ranged attacks while the others drew their swords or prepared their spears. As was tradition, none carried shields. The belief is that you must fight with only your skill of the blade, the weapons you had on you were the only defenses you had.

The enemy closed the last hundred meters fairly quickly and tried to climb the walls. The forces that clashed with the Shadows of Katsumoto were cut down with a few deadly strokes.

The beautiful curved blades of the katana gracefully flew through the air at the command of their master, making a harmonious tone as it cut through the air and flesh. The 'tangs' of bows releasing added to the tone with the whistling of the flying arrows thrusting themselves through the wind.

Shadedulath thrust his katana into the first of the creatures that was very similar to the creature the Chronicler killed at the gates of Marthaeter's liar. Shadedulath ignored the unusualness of the beast and continued on, driving his wakizashi in the throat of the demon. He ripped the blade free and swung both weapons at a large black dragon.

The dragon was about to bite down on Shadedulath, but his blades entered the side of the dragon's skull, killing it. Hotakata was fighting beside his lord to prove his quality in battle.

Hotakata was engaged in a duel with an intelligent version of a zek. The deformed humanoid wielded a large two-handed scimitar. The zek swung the sword down on Hotakata, who evaded the blow by moving to the side. He simply thrust his katana through the zek's head and continued on with the battle.

A pair of demon hounds advanced towards him. This caused a problem for him since he only used his katana in a style that required both hands to use it. Suddenly a sword ripped through the body of one. The second looked back only to see another blade that cut through its neck. Hotakata bowed as he saw that his lord, Shadedulath had assisted him. Shadedulath bowed his head in turn and continued onward.

Delrothban had no trouble in slaying the creatures that he formally worked along side with. He knew their weaknesses and strengths. He bypassed all their defenses and cut straight into their hearts.

His both his katana swiftly cut through limbs and torsos with ease. Many fell before the former dark ambassador of Marthaeter. The others around him were surprised at his skill in which he was fighting with and a few even refused to be near him in combat since they felt they were not worthy to be next to him in battle.

Along the walls the conscripts continued to fire arrows into the mass of darkness below them, desperately hoping to free their home from evil again. Despite the arrows that flew from the wall more creatures poured from the Portal of Shadows.

A band of large dragons took to the air and assaulted the wall's defenders with their fire and claws. The militias were horrified and many took cover behind the wall while the few Shadows of Katsumoto remained on the walls holding back the enemy with their bows. The wall Shadows of Katsumoto began to stick the dragons full of arrows as they tried to convince the conscripts to return and fight. Three dragons fell from the skies and the conscripts slowly returned to their positions to assist in killing the evil dragons.

"I just don't get you," Marthaeter said, "I thought that you would like to have more power, like me. I have unlimited power. I could give power if you simply would join me."

"You have yet to see true power," the Chronicler growled. He glowed white and vanished.

Marthaeter turned to a pool of water and looked into it, watching the battle in the realm. A sudden flash of white light drew his attention to the front of the defender's forces. He could hear the army behind the Chronicler shout, "The Lord of Time!"

The Chronicler once again glowed white. A sphere was white energy was building itself up around him. The Chronicler roared and the white energy sphere expanded greatly out towards the enemy until it had enveloped most of the army. After which the energy faded away and the massive army that once stood before them had been nearly wiped out.

As suddenly as the Chronicler had appeared, he disappeared with a flash of light. Marthaeter turned around as he saw a flash of light illuminate the dark room.

"Quite impressive," Marthaeter replied, "I see you have developed your powers, but have you developed your mental abilities since we last met?"

Marthaeter threw his mind at the Chronicler's expecting their to be a defense of some sort, preventing him from entering the mind of the ancient dragon. Marthaeter then tried to control his mind since he was already within the Chronicler's mind. It efforts were spoiled though. He couldn't grasp the Chronicler's mind. No matter how much he tried, the mind would not bend to his will.

Marthaeter looked at the Chronicler and noticed that the Chronicler wasn't doing a thing to stop him at all. Suddenly Marthaeter was thrown out of the Chronicler's mind with a force he had never experienced before. It greatly overpowered his own, which frightened him.

"_Why hasn't he attacked me before if he had such power and how did I not know about this?"_ Marthaeter thought.

"I didn't attack you earlier only because I didn't know where you were hiding," the Chronicler said as he read Marthaeter's thoughts.

"How did you find this power?" Marthaeter demanded, "How did you find it when I could not. Tell me…"

The Chronicler interrupted him growling, "You will never say my name ever again."

"Tell me how you got this power or I will use your name," Marthaeter roared.

"That is something that you will have to learn on your own," the Chronicler replied.

"Damn you…" Marthaeter cursed as he was about to utter the Chronicler's name.

A beam of white light hit Marthaeter's jaw causing it to explode. The bottom half of the jaw was blow completely off and chunk of the top jaw remained. Marthaeter gurgled as he was surprised and choked on his own blood.

"I warned you and now you have paid the price," the Chronicler stated, "If you want to now how I gained this power, it was from the five thousand years of mental training. You can only learn so much with out losing your mind."

Marthaeter looked up at the grey dragon in fear of what was to come next.

The Chronicler frowned, "You could have been a great dragon Marthaeter, but you had to have your power. You could have improved our great race, but you destroyed it in your lust of knowledge. You are our race's greatest failure. I'm sorry that you had done so to make it this way. I'll spare you any more pain. Good bye, old friend."

With that said the Chronicler fired another blast of white energy killing Marthaeter. The old, grey dragon looked around at the dead room again. He wanted this place to regain its elegance and beauty it had in the past. He knew only one way to do so and it would require much of his power.

The dragon flapped his wings a few times to get himself airborne and flew outside. He flew straight up so he was directly above the fortress. He let loose a mighty roar and white energy raced out of his body onto the barren land below.

The rocky ground absorbed the energy and plants began to grow. Old riverbeds were refilled with crystal clear water that flowed down into lakes and valleys. In a matter of minutes the creatures of evil in the area were destroyed and life had returned to the Chronicler's homeland. The dark storm clouds above parted and disappeared allowing the warm sunlight to fall to the ground adding to the rapid growth of life.

The Chronicler smiled as he saw the land he remembered and loved come back to into existence. Trees finished growing the there adult stages and blossomed with flowers and fruits. Nature had reclaimed what was lost to darkness. The Chronicler remained where he was for a few minutes simply soaking in the scene around him. The sun felt good against his scales. For too long had he remained indoors or in the Celestial Caves were the sunlight doesn't reach.

The ancient dragon felt something that he hadn't felt for many years. Happiness and hope for the future. With that he teleported himself back to the realm where a conflict was being resolved.


	13. Chapter 13: Heir

**Sorry for not updating quickly again. I've been extremely busy with volleyball at the moment. Luckily I'm close to finishing next chapter thanks to the late night work I did on it. Yeah that's pretty much it. Please R&R people.**

Chapter 13: Heir

The battle had finished as the last of the creatures from the former Shadow Vale were killed. Spyro and Cynder had arrived only twenty minutes earlier just before the Chronicler had wiped out most of the enemy force. The dragon armor took a great deal of time to get on and flying to the battle once all armored up was no easy job. Shadedulath understood the situation.

Spyro though felt something pick at the back of his mind after the battle. It was familiar, but a lot weaker then before. He then placed the feeling, Marthaeter. He prepared to mental defend himself, but as he tried the force that poked at his mind just stabbed him with razor sharp claws. The force at which his mind of assault was incredible, Marthaeter was truly desperate now.

Spyro feel onto his knees as a way to alert Cynder of what was happening. Cynder froze with fear that Spyro was injured as she heard his armor suddenly rattle and hit the ground. She spun around to him cringing and growling.

"Spyro!" she cried, "Don't give in. Just remember what happened earlier today."

Spyro's eyes opened and where black colored. He blinked and they were back to the normal purple color.

"Cynder, he's trying to retake me," Spyro cringed again, "He's much more powerful than last time…I…don't think I can hold him back."

"Don't say that of course you can Spyro," Cynder argued, "Hold on, for me."

"I'm trying to," Spyro replied, "You know that Cynder."

Another long minute of struggling went by and Spyro began to tire and Cynder could see it.

"Don't give up Spyro, please for me don't give up," Cynder begged.

Spyro roared as the pain in his mind became unbearable. Cynder wept seeing that again she would lose the one she loved.

Spyro growled, "Cynder I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?" Cynder asked.

"Kill me," he replied.

"No Spyro I'm not giving up on you," Cynder argued.

"It doesn't matter," Spyro countered, "I have given up. I don't want to live like this. I hate this duty I was given. I hate that everyone wants me to fight for them. I hate how I'm unique. I just wish that I were born as a normal dragon. I need this Cynder."

"I can't Spyro," Cynder cried, "I love you too much. I could never kill you."

Spyro closed his eyes and Cynder saw a single tear fall escape his eye. His brow furrowed as the pain increased again and Spyro roared. His eyes shot open this time black again.

"_**So you fail to do your love the ultimate favor?"**_ Marthaeter spoke through Spyro, _**"You must not care about him. He is better off dead and you know that."**_

"Only if he is under your control," Cynder growled, "He deserves the chance to live a normal life after all he has done for the realm. Let him go."

"_**No,"**_ Marthaeter continued, _**"Your Chronicler just tried to kill me and now I must make sure I don't lose. Spyro is the only key."**_

"You can't keep him," Cynder replied, "If he belongs to anyone it's me."

"_**So protective of him you are Cynder,"**_ Marthaeter continued, _**"Did you ever think that Spyro could use less of that crap from you?"**_

"He knows it's only because I care not because I want to annoy him," Cynder countered, "Unlike you."

"_**Funny, Cynder, very funny,"**_ Marthaeter laughed, _**"It's too late Spyro is mine again and this time for good. I have place my soul in him this time where I merely placed my mind in him before."**_

"I will free him," Cynder growled.

"_**Then you must kill him,"**_ Marthaeter said.

Cynder eyes narrowed at Spyro who was under Marthaeter's influence. She knew that she would have to fight. Hopefully she could convince him to stop before it was too late.

Spyro growled as he readied himself to fight her. She did like wise and was ready to use her dark elements. Spyro dove at her with his claws and fangs ready. Cynder unleashed a blast of her fear element at Spyro. The blast stunned him for a moment, but Marthaeter's force overpowered that fear. Cynder didn't want to use her more dangerous powers, but she saw no other way to fight.

Shadows flew from her mouth and enveloped Spyro. Spyro felt his strength leave him and his legs began to shake, as it was hard to keep himself on his feet. The will of Marthaeter was not so easily thrown aside. Spyro felt his strength suddenly grow and his scales turned black as his eyes glowed red.

Cynder watched as the shadowy mist began to dissipate and she retreated a few steps when she saw the red eyes of Spyro. Cynder knew that she couldn't beat him with elements seeing that he was able to resist the effects of her shadow element. She knew the only chance was to fight him, claw to claw.

She prepared to pounce on him, but Spyro had beaten her to it. He pinned her to the ground and growled at her. His mouth had small flames that flicked out of his mouth. He was about to exhale when Cynder swiftly bit into his neck. Blood filled her mouth, the blood of her love.

He roared in pain and stabbed his claws into her right shoulder, causing her bite down harder. Tears came to Cynder's eyes. She never would have thought that she would ever be fighting Spyro ever again especially since they had been in love for several years.

Spyro brought his tail around and stabbed it into her side. She released her jaw's grip and yelled in pain. Spyro's dark smile grew on his face at the sound of this. He slashed his claws at her, cutting her body badly in many places. When he felt that he had caused enough damage he stopped to examine Cynder's condition. His smile disappeared when she struggled to rise and fight.

Spyro stopped her attempt by bring his tail down on her back, forcing her body into the hard ground below. She tried again and received the same punishment. She had the same happen the third time as well.

Spyro grew angry with this and cried, "I will finish you. You are a foolish dragoness to stand before me."

Spyro positioned his tail spike above Cynder heart and glared at her as she cried with a slight smile on her face.

"Why do you smile?" Spyro demanded, "You are going to die."

"I died though trying to save you," Cynder replied, "And that's exactly what I said I would do. Marthaeter can't control you forever Spyro. I know that. If you do kill me then I must tell you that I still love you despite what you have become and may do. I will always love you."

Spyro was thrown off by this statement and was confused, trying to figure heads and tails of the situation. His train of thought was disrupted when Delrothban leapt in front of Spyro. Delrothban picked up the startled dragon and threw him several feet away.

Spyro got up and growled at him, "You will wish that you never did that."

Delrothban drew both katana and mocked, "Let's see you try to stop me from doing that again."

Spyro dove at the warrior with his claws ready to dig into his flesh. Delrothban evaded the rash attack and rammed the pommel of the katana against the back of Spyro's head. Spyro hit the ground, but recovered quickly and assaulted Delrothban ruthlessly.

The dark purple dragon swung his tail at the man, which Delrothban duck under. Spyro followed up by thrusting his horns forward. Delrothban reacted by forcing the horns to his left with his swords. Delrothban then kicked Spyro so he fell on his side. Delrothban wasted no time and placed both swords against Spyro's throat.

"Give up this evil life Spyro. It's not yours, but Marthaeter's," Delrothban said, "Look at Cynder. She is your life and yet you have nearly killed her. You are the only thing she has and the same goes for you. You know this to be true Spyro. Search your heart and you will find the truth through the darkness."

"So you think," Spyro growled, "You also think you have beaten me that to is wrong."

Delrothban suddenly felt something sharp enter his back. He looked down at his chest and saw the gold tail spike of Spyro, piercing his chest. Delrothban looked back at Spyro who smiled in the pleasure of killing the traitor of Marthaeter.

Spyro withdrew his tail and Delrothban fell backwards onto his back looking up at the sky. Sunset had quickly made its presence during the battle. The sun's beauty was the last thing that Delrothban saw before his time on this world expired.

Spyro stood and shook off the dust and dirt that had collected on his dark scales.

"So you have yet survived," a voice said from behind which startled Spyro.

Spyro turned and saw the Chronicler standing a good ten feet from him. His look was sad and one of disappointment.

"_**Yes and you will not be able to kill me,"**_ Marthaeter replied speaking through Spyro, _**"I have taken the strongest in this realm and made him my own."**_

"No you haven't," the Chronicler stated, "It's not your body so he is not yours. There is still a way to free him and so I shall perform this act to spare him from your evil."

"_**NO!"**_ Marthaeter roared, firing a beam of Convexity energy at the Chronicler.

The Chronicler did nothing to stop the destructive beam from ripping through his chest. He fell to the ground and began to laugh weakly.

Spyro approached the old dragon and asked, "Why do you laugh? You are dead you fool."

"Yes," the grey dragon answered, "That is why I am laughing. Marthaeter did not realize that his power had no effect on me and that once I die I must pass my title and power to another dragon. You are that dragon Spyro."

Spyro stepped back yelled, "I don't want your power, I have my own power which is superior to yours!"

"It doesn't matter," the Chronicler replied, "I have chosen you and you will forever be free of this dark power the taints your mind now."

A white mist came from his body and drifted towards Spyro. The mist cloaked him as he struggled to get out of the mist. The mist seeped into his body and his scales turned white like snow.

Spyro felt the darkness within him weaken. Marthaeter was being ripped from his being freeing his enslaved mind. He fell to his knees due to the lack of energy from the process. When he gained the strength to stand he did and examined his surroundings.

A large black dragon was lying on the ground where he last saw the Chronicler. The dragon was old and had ice blue eyes.

The dragon coughed and whispered, "Spyro, come close so I may tell you what you must know."

Spyro did as instructed and the Chronicler smiled, "I'm glad you have returned. You know that you are now to record all the events of the dragon race until you pass on. My element was the element of time that is after I took this position. Use this power carefully; if you use it wastefully you will die. One can only give so much life before there is lost."

"Marthaeter is gone then?" Spyro asked.

The Chronicler closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, "His doom it yet to be witnessed, but the time shall come soon when the mightiest in the realm must destroy the haunter of his mind. With all at stakes is not what drives him, but his love who will be lost if he shall fail. The light that has brought life shall also end the lives of some, but ultimately to save the most important one."

With that said the former Chronicler drew his last breath and passed on.

A large crowd of conscripts and Shadows of Katsumoto had gathered. They all lowered their weapons and bowed before Spyro as if he was a god or something. Shadedulath approached and stopped as he saw Spyro and fell to his knees, bowing.

"Hail the Lord of Time!" Shadedulath shouted.

"Haza!" the Shadows of Katsumoto shouted.

They all rose to their feet and looked at Spyro with wonder and awe.

Spyro looked down at himself and was shocked to find that his scales were white colored. His horns were a metallic gold color now, but his amethyst eyes remained and stood out.

Spyro looked around the battlefield taking in the carnage and destruction that had taken place. His heart stopped as his eyes fell upon Cynder's battered form. He rushed over to her body and knelt down. He nuzzled her hoping to get a response. She groaned in pain and opened an eye.

That eye looked over the new Spyro. She was uncertain who this dragon was, but all doubts were put to rest when her eye locked with the purple eyes of Spyro.

She smiled and whispered, "Spyro." She slipped into unconscious and Spyro placed her on his back and ran to the camp to get her medical care.

Shadedulath walked the battlefield and found Delrothban's body. Shadedulath bowed his head and a tear slipped from his eye.

He spoke out so his guards Sharlad, Yariv, Catyris, and Olerp could hear, "It is sad that you didn't understand until the end. Thank you my friend. We will always remember your pain and sacrifice. Rest in Heavens with your brother."

The guards bowed their heads in respect. They carried the body back to the camp for the burial.

Cynder was treated as best the medical experts could do. Spyro caused major damage to her and they believed it would a lengthy time before Cynder would wake up again.

The new Chronicler couldn't believe that he caused this, but the evidence was before him, marking his love. Spyro had severely punished himself for these afflictions by refusing to eat or drink, leaving her side, communicating with anyone save for ordering them to leave, and even self-caused pain by claw, tooth, and tail. He went as far as to stab his tail spike into his side, leaving a large wound that would later match the scar on his side.

"I'm so sorry Cynder."


	14. Chapter 14: Reestablishing

**Well I have had no time due to volleyball, but I'm going to make it up to all of you. I have finished this story and I'm posting the last chapters today. Enjoy and please read and review. Look for the sequel call, "Eternal Light" and look out for the prequel called, "Eternal Devotion" The prequel was created since a fairly large amount of people liked Shadedulath and the Shadows of Katsumoto and so it will be about the organization before coming to the realm.**

Chapter 14: Reestablishing

A month had passed since the day when so many died, the new Chronicler was appointed, and the fall of Marthaeter, now referred to as the Battle of Liberation. The Shadows of Katsumoto had remained in the realm mostly to continue their job as guardians of the realm since the dragon's numbers had dropped to only Spyro and Cynder. The dragons had guarded that realm for thousands of years, but now a new race must protect it as the dragons move to their ancient homeland, which was the land of the Shadow Vale before it was corrupted by evil.

Thanks to the Chronicler the land was restored to its past beauty allowing Spyro and Cynder to live in this realm. The fortress that once belonged to Marthaeter was now in the hands of the two dragons. They allowed the Chronicler's warriors and spirits to guard the fortress city.

Cynder had recovered about a week after the Battle of Liberation and was surprised to see Spyro as the next Chronicler. When Spyro explained what happened she replied, "I'm glad that I have my purple dragon back. You know you're a lot more special now." Spyro had to agree with that and first official business he conducted was writing the events of the Battle of Liberation. It was an extremely difficult task, but he managed to get through it with the help of his mate Cynder.

Spyro and Cynder had decided to visit the Temple since they had promised each other they would in honor of the fallen Guardians. So they took off that day and flew to the portal that led to the realm. Once back in the realm, they flew south towards their old home. It wasn't for a few hours before the ruined Temple came into view. It was a good thirty minutes before they arrived at the Temple. They landed and explored their previous home.

Nature had begun the process of retaking the land, but the Temple still held a feeling of great mystical power. The great supports and most of the walls looked as if they could continue to hold the Temple up for several more decades without any repairs.

Spyro and Cynder stopped as they found the four great statues of Ignitus, Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador; the four dragons that raised them and acted as parents to them. They still couldn't believe that they were gone.

"At least they would be proud of us," Spyro said comfortingly, "We're still alive, we've taken out Marthaeter, and we will be rebuilding our race."

"I just wish they didn't have to die," Cynder replied.

"I know, I wished they had lived to see these days, free of darkness and fear," Spyro said, "At least we can try to have that normal life now right?"

Cynder gave him a look that said that he must be kidding, "Spyro you are the savior of the realm and the new Chronicler. I highly doubt our life will be 'normal' but I'm willing to have a life with you."

He smiled and kissed her, "Thanks love."

"Oh anytime," Cynder replied.

They continued searching until they found themselves, standing on the balcony. It was getting late and there wasn't enough time for the two dragons to return to the portal before dark so they concluded that they could stay for a night.

They sat on the balcony to watch the sunset. The sun caused the clouds to change to a beautiful orange, yellow, and red colors, almost as if the sky itself was on fire. Cynder rest her head against Spyro neck and sighed happily as the sight took her breath away. Their tail entwined and Spyro licked her on the forehead.

Cynder looked at Spyro with a smirk and asked, "Is that the best you got?"

Spyro smiled locked lips with her as he draped his wings over them. After a minute they broke and looked at one another with smiles.

"I love you Spyro," Cynder said, "So much I have no idea what I would do if you were gone."

"Me too," Spyro agreed, "Luckily you'll never have to worry about that ever again. I'm never going to betray your trust and love ever again."

"I know you won't," Cynder replied, "Now I would like another one of those kisses that you just gave me since you are so good at it."

Spyro laughed, "As you wish."

He pulled her close and they shared another kiss as the sun set below the horizon.

The sun rose the next morning and woke the two dragons that were asleep on the balcony. Cynder stirred first and stood up looking at the sun, it was beautiful. She turned back to look at her love.

His white scales reflected the light along with his metallic gold horns and chest scales. She wrapped her tail around his, which caused him to wake and sit up. His purple eyes drew her attention and held them there. He smiled and she smiled in return.

"Hey," Spyro said.

"Hey," Cynder returned, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired but good," Spyro answered.

Cynder padded over behind him and wrapped her forelegs around him and allowed him to lie against her, "Rest then. I'll be here if you need me."

"Thanks Cynder," Spyro replied as he closed his eyes falling back asleep. She looked down on him and noticed how peaceful he looked, not like the last few months when Malefor or Marthaeter were tormenting his dreams. She hoped he would never have such things happen to him again. Too many times had she nearly lost him, either to darkness or death.

The scar that ran along the left side of his face that showed the struggles of his past were nothing more than a memory now. The scar made him look fierce, which Cynder didn't like since it wasn't him. Now the scar was more of a mark that reminded her that the evil her love worked so hard to defeat would never return.

She could hardly believe that they finally have the chance to live a normal life to some point, but this life would be what they dreamed of as normal. No more wars or battles, just the two of them and their love for each other. Of course with Spyro being the new Chronicler that did make it extremely difficult to say that life would be 'normal'. It would be interesting to see Spyro working in the line of history and books. She found it funny since Spyro never picked up a book when he was back at the Temple.

"_Life throws those twists and turns in every once and a while,"_ she thought.

She stroked the back of his head thinking about the life that they both had dreamed of. Finally that dream was going to become true. Cynder had always wanted to be loved, to have a family, to have a purpose.

She couldn't help but remember the hurtful things that Spyro had said when he was under Marthaeter's control.

"_You have no purpose in the realms."_

She shook the thoughts from mind. She did have a purpose, to love and be with Spyro. To rebuild the dragon race with him, to start a family purely out of love, that was her purpose. Not to do these things out of being forced to, but just out of the love they shared for one another. Everything she ever dreamed of Spyro has shown that he would do for her.

"Thank you for saving me so long ago," she whispered giving him a kiss on the forehead, "Thank you for tracking me down and protecting at the Well of Souls, and saving me from Malefor. Thank you for coming back and loving me like you promised you would."

A chuckle escaped from Spyro who smiled and said, "Thank you for coming after me all those times even when I threatened you with death." He opened his eyes at looked up into her sapphire eyes saying, "Thank you for not giving up on me."

"You're welcome," Cynder said as she lowered her lips to his.

"Is it morning all ready?" Spyro asked.

"It is my dear," Cynder answered.

"We missed the sunrise," Spyro groaned, "I hate it when I over sleep."

"Let me tell you that I was more focused on you than the sunrise," Cynder commented, "You looked very magnificent in the light, especially with the gold horns and scales you have."

"Why thank you," Spyro replied, "Did you know you look extremely beautiful in the moonlight."

"Really?" Cynder asked not surprised by his statement.

"Oh yes," Spyro answered, "Last night was a prime example."

"That's sweet," Cynder replied, "Are you ready to go back home?"

"Yeah," Spyro said looking at the Temple's ruins.

The flight home was a quiet one. Both dragons were deep in thought remembering their old homes and the Guardians who protected it. They arrived at the portal to their new homeland and passed through the threshold.

They appeared in the realm of their ancestors, full of life. The once land of darkness had been reclaimed by its rightful inhabitants. They took off again and flew back to their home, the ancient dragon fortress city of Dragoth, the home of the dragons over four and a half thousand years ago.

"No place like home, right?" Cynder asked as they landed in the courtyard of the fortress.

"Yeah," Spyro said with a smile.

"Well I know you have more work to do so I'll let you go," Cynder said, "See you around dinner?"

Spyro wrapped his tail around hers and replied, "My work can wait. I would much rather spend my day with you."

"Aw," Cynder answered, "I would to."

She kissed him and they walked around the gardens of the fortress.


	15. Chapter 15: For Her

Chapter 15: For Her

_His doom it yet to be witnessed_

Night came so Spyro and Cynder retired to their room and fell asleep. It was during this sleep when Spyro had a mysterious dream, more of a mysterious nightmare.

_Dream start…_

_"You have destroyed everything of mine," Marthaeter's dark voice boomed, "Now I will take what means everything from you."_

_"No," Spyro shouted, "You won't take her. I will fight to the death to save her."_

_"Prove it," Marthaeter challenged, "Meet me in your Temple and face me for her life."_

_"Deal," Spyro growled._

_Dream end…_

Spyro woke up and looked around the room. Next to him laid Cynder, asleep from what he could tell. He nudged her, nut she didn't respond. Spyro repeated this, but still no response. He got up and left the fortress heading to the realm to confront Marthaeter to save his love's life.

_But the time shall come soon when the mightiest in the realm must destroy the haunter of his mind_

Shadedulath was asleep in his quarters when someone woke him up. He opened his eyes to see a white dragon with purple eyes starring at him.

"Spyro?" Shadedulath asked, "Is that you?"

"It is," Spyro replied.

"What are you doing here at this time?" Shadedulath asked, "Shouldn't you be with Cynder?"

"That's why I'm here," Spyro replied. He explained everything that happened and asked for Shadedulath's assistance.

Shadedulath pondered the matter for a few moments. He answered, "I will bring my best men. I can't promise a victory though. That is up to you and you alone."

"Thank you," Spyro replied, "We must hurry to the Temple."

They quickly went about the base of the Shadows of Katsumoto and gathered the finest of the warriors. They left within an hour's time and were off to the Dragon Temple.

They arrived at the Temple after a half day's travel. The Shadows of Katsumoto where running for most of the time which wore them out. Spyro had little trouble the speed and informed Shadedulath that he and his men should rest.

"What about you?" Shadedulath asked, between gasps for air.

"I'll be fine," Spyro replied, "If I don't come out in two hours assume I died and don't come after me. Tell Cynder I had to so she would live. Tell her that I love her."

Shadedulath bowed his head and said, "As you wish Lord of Time."

_With all at stakes is not what drives him_

Spyro turned and headed towards the Temple that was only a short distance away. He came to the Temple gates and passed through them.

The Temple was empty and the moonlight provided little light inside the ruins. Spyro looked around and noticed a pair of yellow eyes that starred at him with great hatred.

"You have taken all I had," Marthaeter said, "Now I shall take what means everything to you."

"You will never do so," Spyro growled in defiance.

The eyes moved forward and entered a ray of moonlight revealing Marthaeter as a great shadowy beast. He was simply massive. He filled the Temple with his being and looked at Spyro from a great height.

Spyro didn't back down. He couldn't especially not with what would be lost.

_But his love who will be lost if he shall fail_

The great shadow threw himself at the much smaller white dragon. Spyro evaded the attack and let loose a beam of light that tore through Marthaeter's form. A gapping hole appeared in Marthaeter's arm where Spyro's beam hit.

Marthaeter looked at the damage and roared at Spyro. Spyro fired another blast that ripped through Marthaeter's chest. Spyro continued to fire these light beams at the one who threatened his love.

Marthaeter swung his long tail at Spyro who was occupied with attacking. The tail crashed into the white dragon and threw him into a ruined wall. The wall crumbled under the force in which Spyro landed against it, causing it to collapse and fall on top of him.

Spyro recovered and was struck with a black energy wave. The wave threw him backwards and he felt his strength lessen. He quickly got up and fired a beam of light at Marthaeter's head, which blasted a hole between the two yellow eyes.

The massive beast roared and fell backwards, taking out the wall behind it. Spyro leapt into the air and hovered above Marthaeter as he continuously fired beams of light into Marthaeter's form, slowly wiping the evil from the very realm. Spyro had forgotten about Marthaeter's weapons though and was swatted aside by a massive claw. Spyro hit a wall and fell to the floor.

Spyro got back up and drew upon all his energy. He focused on what he had to do. He focused on the one true dragon in his life that he would do anything for. He felt himself grow in strength and released it in a deadly explosion of white flames that incinerated Marthaeter's broken body, destroying him forever.

Spyro didn't realize that the Temple was collapsing on him from the explosion. Spyro didn't care, his mission was complete and she was free. Cynder would live. Boulders that belonged to the ceiling and roof of the Temple landed around him as he sat there with his eyes closed, picturing Cynder.

The entire structure suddenly gave out and Spyro had no escape.

_The light that has brought life shall also end the lives of some_

A large rock fell on his tail and Spyro snapped back to reality to see all of the Temple crumble with him under it. His tail was stuck under the boulder and he couldn't move. He began to use his earth powers to destroy the boulder that was holding him hostage, but he knew he wouldn't get out in time.

He stopped and whisper, "At least you are safe my love."

Cynder suddenly woke up from her sleep. She had seen what was a battle between Spyro and Marthaeter. Spyro killed him, but couldn't escape the Temple's destruction and was killed. She quickly looked to her side and saw that Spyro wasn't there.

_But ultimately to save the most important one_


	16. Chapter 16: My Love

I must say that I'm sorry for not posting the last chapter. I thought I did but I guess not. Here you go. Enjoy and please R&R. Note the sequel is called Eternal Light which I hope to start soon and I'm hoping to work on a prequel soon since some have wanted to learn more about the Shadows of Katsumoto. Note the prequel will come after the sequel is finished and will be called Eternal Devotion.

Chapter 16: My Love

Cynder searched the fortress for the dragon she loved so dearly, but found nothing. She then just continued walking through the fortress randomly, hoping to just run into Spyro. Again no such luck came. She stopped and waited on the wall just over the gate and decided to wait for her Spyro to return. Hopefully he would.

Shadedulath and his men watched in complete horror as the temple collapsed following the massive explosion. They were utterly shocked and starred at the sit for a few moments before one questioned if Spyro had survived.

Shadedulath answered with, "We will have to wait and see like he told us to do."

Three hours passed and Shadedulath announced that Spyro probably didn't survive. They held a ceremony for him and honored him, as he deserved.

"Those who wish to stay and wait to see if he is alive may do so," Shadedulath said, "Don't wait any longer then a day's time starting morning. All others we have a long trip to see Cynder."

A little under half of the men stayed as the others escorted Shadedulath to the Dragoth to deliver the sad tidings to Cynder.

As the small group left their sights, they headed towards the debris of the temple. They searched through the rumble as best they could, hoping to find their hero amongst the rocks. The six men continued until the sun began to rise on the horizon.

They took a break from their quest and sat under the shade of a wall that hadn't fallen. Two of the men watched the horizon as the others took their break.

They ate small bits of meat they carried with them and drink the water in the containers they brought. After what was an hour they went back to work searching through the ruins.

It wasn't until midday when one of the men found a gold spike protruding from the rumble. They quickly moved the rocks that lay over him and pulled him from the ruins. Two men were forced to carry the young adult dragon. They moved him to a grassy area and laid him on the ground.

One of the men inspected him and found that he had survived, but had several broken rips and a broken foreleg. They were unable to treat him so they allowed him to rest.

By this time the next day Shadedulath and his men were at the portal that led to the dragon homeland, now renamed the Portal of Dragons. They passed through the portal and found themselves in the land of the dragon of long ago. They arrived at the fortress in a matter of minutes.

Shadedulath saw a black dragon sitting on the gatehouse watching them.

"_She must be waiting for him,"_ he thought.

Shadedulath focused on what he would say to her. He couldn't just come straight out and say that he was dead, no that would be too harsh.

"_Oh Ancestors what do I tell her?"_ he prayed.

They passed through the gate and Shadedulath looked back up at Cynder. She remained on the wall. Shadedulath proceeded to the stairs that led to the top of the wall and made his way over to the dragoness.

He could see tears where running down her face. The disappearance of her love again must have led her to think the worst. Sadly the news he brought would confirm the thoughts and only make the situation worst.

"Cynder," Shadedulath started, "I have some unfortunate news for you."

She closed her eyes and a fresh wave of tears rolled down her face.

"Spyro came to me the last night and told me that Marthaeter had returned and threaten to kill you if he didn't confront him. I agreed to help him, but when we arrived Spyro told me he had to do this alone," Shadedulath explained, "He told me if he didn't return to tell you that he did so you may live and that…he loved you dearly."

Cynder broke down, losing all control she had moments ago. Her sobbing touched him, Shadedulath felt his eyes begin to water. Despite the years of brutal military training and war he couldn't help himself at seeing her pain.

"I'm sorry to bring you this news," Shadedulath said with comfort, "We all treasure his kindness and service to saving our home."

Cynder exploded as she heard that last statement, "It's because of that service he is dead now, you causing his death. He should have never gone through such a life. All he ever dreamed of was to have a normal life with me, but no he was destined to be the savior of the realms, leading him to his death and my continuous pain of loneliness."

"I never meant for him to die Cynder," Shadedulath said, "You know that."

Cynder took off and flew into the fortress to escape the pain. She flew down the halls until she came to their room and burst into the room. She dove onto the bed and curled up there hoping this was all a bad dream. She cried until she fell asleep.

Spyro stirred when the sun began to set. He groaned as a sudden rush of pain flooded his mind. Two of the men rushed over to him to calm him down.

"Great Lord of Time," one said, "You have survived, but you are badly injured."

"No really?" Spyro replied in a smart tone, "I can only feel my insides burning."

"Shadedulath went to Dragoth to tell Cynder you didn't survive," the other replied.

Spyro forced himself up despite the pain and limped northward. The Shadows of Katsumoto where completely shocked at his actions and ran after him, begging for him to stop and rest before he injured himself anymore.

Spyro replied, "My love is in more pain than I am. I must go to her and comfort her."

The men stopped arguing with him and followed him.

Shadedulath and his men left the next morning seeing that they couldn't do anything more. They arrived at the base sometime around midday.

Cynder was again completely alone, except for the guards, but she remained in the room. She remained like this for the whole day. She didn't get anything to eat or drink either, too saddened by the loss of her mate.

The sun disappeared on the horizon and Cynder fell asleep alone again.

Night had come to the land, but Spyro still pushed onwards determined to get back to Cynder as fast as he could. The men behind him were still following him. After an hour or so the Shadows of Katsumoto broke off returning to the base to rest. Spyro pushed on though. He wouldn't give into power of exhaustion. He continued limping on, thinking only about his mate and how happy they both would be when they saw each other. Before Spyro knew it he was in front of the Portal of Dragons.

He pressed through and founded himself in a beautiful clearing on the forest that returned to the realm. The sun was beginning to rise bringing its warm light to the world. Spyro pushed on with a new source of energy.

The sun's rays fell onto Cynder's form, warming her and causing to wake up. She smiled as she felt the warmth.

"Hey honey," Cynder whispered.

There was no response though. She repeated her saying and opened her eyes. All she found though was an empty bed. Her memories returned to Spyro's death and tears rolled down her face.

She got out of bed and made her way outside, hoping that a miracle would happen.

She stood out on the balcony of her room and watched the path in front of the city fortress. She waited for two hours before some doubt appeared in her mind. She was about to go back inside when she saw a spot of white in the forest. She focused on it and she then saw gold.

She flew down to the gate and landed on it to get a better glimpse of it. For the next ten agonizing minutes she could only guess what this was. Suddenly the object she had focused on came out of the forest's cover.

She couldn't help but smile as she saw him. Spyro had returned, but he looked injured and in poor condition, but still he limped towards the fortress. She leapt off the wall and flapped her wings, propelling her forward.

Spyro looked up as he heard his name called out. Cynder dove into him and embraced him. Spyro, who was knocked over and was in great pain since his rips had taken Cynder's dive. Spyro laughed though as the pain subsided and as he held his love once again. Tears of joy rolled down her face, as she knew that he would never leave again.

"Oh, Spyro," she cried, "I began to think to think that you were killed."

"Why do you say that?" Spyro asked confused.

"I had a dream. It seemed extremely real though. You were fighting Marthaeter at the Temple and it collapsed on you and you didn't escape," Cynder said.

"That's exactly what happened," Spyro replied, "He's gone now you don't have to worry about losing me ever again. I will never betray your love again, even if I'm corrupted, I'll fight through it."

"I know you will," Cynder said as she gave him a kiss.

The two dragons headed into the fortress and into the gardens. They spent a fair amount of the morning with each other.

Cynder eventually got up and said, "Well I know you're a busy dragon and that you have a lot of work to do, so I'll let you get to that."

Spyro's tail wrapped around hers and he quickly replied, "I would much rather spend some of my time with you."

She smiled and said, "Alright."

Spyro slowly got to his feet and limped beside her.

A day later Spyro was recording the events of Marthaeter's final gamble. He described the dream he had, the travel, and the fight. He also added in the travel back and the return to Dragoth. The final lines of this section read,

And so the age of darkness and fear had ended. Life returned to the empty places of the world and all were free. The age of peace and friendship began. Hopefully I may never see the day to write the end of this age.

The End


End file.
